My Dark King
by Masterdramon
Summary: In a world where Dark Carly succeeded in turning Jack to her side, the remaining Signers are left bereft and hopelessness descends. Earth's only chance for survival lies in the love that the Dark King and Queen share; a love that has survived even death.
1. Resurrection

**My Dark King – Chapter 1: Resurrection**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

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She had done it.

After all of Rudger's talk of the treacherous ways of the Signers, all the tricks that the Crimson Dragon could and would play in order to ensure the victory of its avatars in the physical realm, the King of Riding Duels (for that was what she would always refer to him as, regardless of trivial matters like who had actually _won_ the Fortune Cup) lay dead at her feet after a mere handful of turns.

In all honesty, she was absolutely dumbfounded. She had doubted Rudger's sanity (not for the first time) when he had declared that Jack Atlas be her opponent in the conflict to come; not withstanding that she was madly in love with the stunning blonde, but more to the point his dueling record was unblemished with the singular exception of Yusei Fudo, another Signer. How could anyone, even a deranged maniac with an unnatural affinity for arachnids, sincerely expect an amateur reporter with sparse dueling experience and abysmal luck to succeed against a duelist rivaled only by the likes of Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba themselves?

And yet, here she was. A little of Demak's and Rudger's admittedly impressive card collection, a little of Kiryu's training on how to properly manage a D-Wheel without immediately crashing into a wall (or worse), and a lot of emotional support from Misty, and here little old Carly Nagisa had succeeded where nearly all of her fellows had miserably failed: she had killed a Signer.

Carly knew, however, that there was little time for further retrospection. She had precious few moments before Jack's soul would pass from the Earthly plane, at which point she would forever lose the grand opportunity that she had been promised by her God. When she had drawn _Prophecy of the Future King_ and finally accepted her destiny as a Dark Signer, her single, immutable condition to the immortal hummingbird that took up residence within her soul was, should she emerge victorious from her fated Duel, that it would bestow the same gift of rebirth to Jack as it had done to her after her death at the hands of Divine. Aslla piscu hadn't been particularly receptive to this idea (to put it lightly) until she reminded the God that the Dark Signers' leader was a former Signer as well. Uru was the unspoken ruler of the Jibakushin during their Second Coming, primarily due to the fact that it had found a host in this brave new world first; seniority was of vital import to the ancient deities, rendering the hummingbird ranked only above Chacu Challhua in their loose hierarchy.

This was enough to at least give the God pause. To actively take on as an avatar a man marked at birth by their sworn enemy, the Akaki Ryu, seemed like an absurd idea, and yet up until his death just hours prior Rudger had clearly been brutally effective at advancing the cause of the Jibakushin within the mortal world. Perhaps its host was right in insisting that Jack Atlas deserved a second chance to join the War on the right side. Perhaps it took a man who had walked within the cursed crimson light of their foe to combat that same foe with the necessary vigor. Perhaps, ultimately, Uru had caught onto something that Aslla piscu has not.

Of course, the God saw through its avatar's ulterior motives for requesting Jack's resurrection immediately. She felt the petty human emotion of love for the Signer in great quantities and wished to spend eternity with him, but though the hummingbird could never strictly approve of this desire it did not expressly forbid it either. As long as Carly Nagisa brought about the end of the Crimson Dragon and its disciples, and plunged the world into a glorious Age of Hell, the Earthbound God would not begrudge her from indulging in her more visceral pleasures in the aftermath. Truthfully the hummingbird had become somewhat fond of its host, or at least as fond as any ageless deity could be of a lowly human, and so it agreed to grant her request.

There were stipulations, however. Aslla piscu warned that its power, though vast, was not unlimited, and it did not have the ability to sustain unnatural life for multiple revenants for very long. Jack could live again with the hummingbird's seal for no more than a week; less if he used up too much energy dueling. Either Carly would need to enjoy her week with her lover to its fullest and then accept his mortality once and for all, or the two of them would need to find some alternate method of binding Jack to the Earth plane within that time. To her credit its host immediately accepted these terms and opted for the latter option. Not once did it ever cross Carly Nagisa's mind that finding such a method might not be possible, and the God smiled inwardly at her newfound confidence. Clumsy and scatterbrained she might sometimes be, but its chosen avatar had sheer drive and willpower, two traits that rendered her almost unbeatable when backed with the might of a Jibakushin.

Such was Carly's mindset as she bent down to bring the kiss of new life to the bleeding corpse that still held her heart (un-beating though it was). Carly couldn't help but observe the irony: her favorite bedtime story as a child had been _Sleeping Beauty_, and she had lost count of the number of times she had watched a dubbed version of the Disney adaptation; now it would be a princess whose kiss would awaken a sleeping King. Not that she was really royalty (yet, anyway), but the time was drawing nearer to the days when the two would rule all of the Earth, side by side…

Carly was interrupted from her musings as her efforts to pull Jack's lifeless body toward her face dislodged something within his inner coat pocket. Blinking with her ebony eyes, she recognized them as her glasses, broken in the top corner of one of the lenses but otherwise intact. They immediately elicited a strange response from her psyche, as memories of laughter and cotton candy and a ridiculous outfit that she had forced Jack into wearing in order to remain incognito flooded her mind, unbidden by any conscious thought. These memories caused much pain in her head and on her arm, where she bore the sign of her God and savior, and so with an uncharacteristic ferocity Carly threw the spectacles to the ground and crushed them to dust with her heel.

The pain immediately began to slow, but Carly knew that she could not wait for it to fade completely or she might run out her window of opportunity. Cupping Jack's face with her hands as she had only ever before done in her most secret of fantasies, Carly lowered her lips onto his and bestowed upon him the most tender of kisses. She was almost surprised that his mouth was still warm, given how still he was, but Carly tried as much as possible to ignore the fact that she was kissing a corpse (although was she much more than a corpse herself?) and focused on pouring the deepness of her love for the man she was now embracing into his lips. Aslla piscu had explained that physical contact and an intense emotional response would suffice to bring Jack under the hummingbird's power; Carly herself had chosen the particular action of a kiss under the guise of "creative license." Truthfully Carly just couldn't resist the symbolism, the perfect-ness of the action, and she hoped against hope that she was hedging her bets correctly.

As delicately as she could muster Carly raised her face from Jack's and propped him up against the demolished Wheel of Fortune. Holding his gloved hands as tightly as she could Carly closed her eyes and prayed to her Incan God to follow through on its promise and resurrect the one man who meant more than anything to the petite Dark Signer. She had no particular reason to doubt such a powerful being, one which held no secrets from her because they were in many ways one soul, but still she prayed just the same.

Slowly Carly's eyes opened to find…a corpse. Dejected – no, distraught – Carly felt unbridled anger race through her pseudo-living body, as for a single moment she prepared to shout to the heavens to a God that could hear her even if she didn't speak a word, to tear up the piece of cardboard that represented its only connection to the Earthly plane, to get on her custom D-Wheel and drive off into the sea, forfeiting her life yet again. But the Dark Signer did none of those things, for what she felt in her hands next drove all other thoughts out of her mind except for gratitude to the ancient hummingbird whose essence resided within her.

Beginning to flow through Jack's hands once more was blood, but not pumped by the heart through veins and arteries like a living human's would be. No, this blood flowed in reverse, for a Dark Signer's heart was like a Jibakushin's – absorbing all the life around it without giving any back. Jack's plasma (a royal purple now rather than crimson, as Carly had learned after cutting herself once at the Dark Signers' headquarters) was sucked into one centralized location, through which all of his bodily energy was drawn, and as Carly watched with unbridled joy the King's glassy eyes closed and then flickered open once more, their whites rendered an unearthly, empty black.

"C…C…Carly?" the duelist sputtered hoarsely.

"Rest for a moment," Carly replied soothingly, gently rubbing the new Dark Signer's temples. "All will be explained in due time, my beloved. My…Dark King."


	2. Retrospection

**My Dark King – Chapter 2: Retrospection**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

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"_Who's the new girl?" Demak asked, not turning away from the console as he pulled Rudger's helicopter out of the wreckage of the Arcadia Building._

"_She's the one who just single-handedly crippled the Arcadia Movement," Misty snapped at him, continuing to embrace Carly as tightly as she could. The poor girl had been through much; death was never easy, and the girl was clearly not yet used to the subtle art of revenge. "Aslla piscu finally picked a host, Demak. This is our newest member, Carly Nagisa. And based on the results of her first Yami no Duel, it seems that the hummingbird picked wisely."_

_Demak flinched noticeably, and it was not hard to see why. Sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of the lizard Dark Signer, Carly Nagisa was not projecting a particularly fierce image. Misty decided to change the subject, in order to give Carly some more time to compose herself before the inevitable flood of questions would shoot toward her from Demak's maw. Serious and somber he might be, but Demak could be quite a gadfly sometimes. "Who's the new _guy_?" she asked in a venomous tone, staring at the muscular South American sitting quietly in the opposite seat._

"_This is Bommer. He's…insurance. Just in case one of us fails miserably to the Signer forces, we'll have some reserves," Demak stated succinctly._

"_Bet you all the money I've ever made through modeling that it will be _you_, Demak," Misty spat._

"_So, Carly, how are you enjoying your gift of new life?" Demak asked loudly, ignoring Misty's slight. "For it _is_ a gift, you know. Not everyone can just up and walk away from death. There's nothing to cry about…"_

_Demak was interrupted in his tirade as Misty got up from her seat and slapped him hard across the face. "Just shut up and drive, monkey man," she stated dangerously. He did._

_Hours later, the helicopter touched down at the Dark Signers' headquarters. Demak led Bommer off down a dark hall – to a prison cell, Misty knew, smiling wryly – as Misty helped Carly walk slowly to the meeting room in the center of a complex. Carly had at least stopped crying, content to occasionally sniffle, but she seemed to have completely lost her voice. Misty steeled herself; the first impression to Kiryu and especially Rudger would be key to integrating Carly into their little group._

_Immediately after pushing the door open, Rudger frowned and Kiryu chuckled. Misty knew that they must look ridiculous, a junior Dark Signer half-carrying a distinctly out-of-place girl into the room where Armageddon was planned on a near-daily basis. Misty wished that Carly's eyes would at least reflect her true nature; they had inexplicably become white once more, something that generally only happened when Misty used a glamour spell to disguise herself and observe the outside world. But the whiteness of Carly's eyes was not artificial; it was a sign that the girl was resistant to accept her true destiny, and it didn't bode well for the results of this meeting. Still, Misty remained confident._

"_Rudger, Kiryu, this is Carly Nagisa," she stated firmly. "While she may not look like much now, she is our final member. Upon her death at the hands of Divine, Aslla piscu chose her and bestowed upon her its full power. And in return, this unassuming little girl rose again and used the hummingbird to murder Divine and bring down the entire Arcadia complex. Their Movement will never bother with our plans again, I assure you that."_

"_Really?" Rudger smirked, his demeanor changing completely. "Young Miss Nagisa, what have you to say about this?"_

_Carly glanced at him but failed to summon words. Gazing at her with sisterly affection, Misty stepped in once more and glared at Rudger. "Sir, she is…not in a fit state right now. Her new life began mere hours ago, and her death was traumatizing. I suggest that you allow me to show her to her chambers, so that she might have some time to contemplate before she properly joins our cause. One's first murder is never easy, not even for a Dark Signer, and for one so young…"_

"_Oh yeah, I remember my first kill!" Kiryu interrupted, laughing violently. "Took me…moments to calm down!"_

"_Kiryu!" Misty yelled, silencing him. "This is not the time for that. Just let me take Carly to her chambers, please," she implored Rudger._

"_Fine," the Dark Signer leader replied. "But in one hour we will have a meeting to…welcome her into the fold, so to speak. Make sure that she is ready then." It was not a request._

"_Very well," Misty stated, and without another word she grabbed Carly's arm and led her from the room._

_Soon the pair reached a hallway near the back of the complex. "This is where the Dark Signers' bed chambers are located. Each door is marked by the seals of our respective Gods, and only one with the corresponding birthmark can enter without permission. This is your room," Misty said, pointing to a door that was indeed emblazoned with the sign of Aslla piscu. "Do you give me permission to enter?"_

"_Y…y…yes, of c…course," Carly managed to utter, finally speaking for the first time since Misty had revealed to her that she was dead. She held up her arm uncertainly, and immediately the door slid open to reveal a fairly spacious bedroom. Though dark and gothic in nature, her new room put the entirety of her old apartment to shame, and despite her pain Carly couldn't help but appreciate how well-furnished the place was. Misty led her to her bed and sat her down before embracing her again._

"_Is there anything you need now, Carly?" she asked, smiling kindly. "I said that I would take you in, and I meant it. Believe me when I say that I know what you're going through."_

"_N…no, you d…don't," Carly sputtered, taking Misty aback. "I'm s…sorry, but you d…don't. I j…just need to be l…left alone right n…now."_

"_Alright Carly, if that is what you wish," Misty stated. "If you want to talk later, just come out and knock on the door with Ccarayhua's mark on it. I'll let you in and we can discuss whatever it is that I don't understand. Otherwise, I'll be outside your door in an hour to collect you for Rudger's meeting." And with that, Misty turned and exited the room, the stone door sliding closed behind her._

_Immediately, Carly once more burst into tears. This was all wrong, all wrong! She was supposed to help Jack against the Dark Signers, not join them! She was supposed to learn all about the Signer/Dark Signer War and write an award-winning article and move up in the company and marry Jack and have his son and become a husband-wife dueling tag-team and finally die at a ripe old age with the man of her dreams by her side. But that was all impossible now; she was already dead, and the dead don't write newspaper articles or get married, and they _certainly_ don't have children. All the dreams she had ever had, all her goals and aspirations, had now gone kaput just because she had happened to be snooping in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just because Divine had heard her…_

_Divine. Whatever a bastard he was, he didn't deserve what he got. She, little Carly Nagisa, mild-mannered reporter who had never so much as bumped into someone without apologizing to them profusely, had _murdered_ a man…and worse, she had done it viciously, with relish. She had _enjoyed_ sending the man tumbling to his demise, _enjoyed_ watching the enormous hummingbird that she had summoned forth from the Earth striking at him with unrestrained ferocity. She was a monster, the kind that she only saw in cartoons and movies. She remembered her favorite American movie – _"Sleeping Beauty" – _and how she had always associated herself with the heroine Princess Aurora. But now she was far more like the inhuman villainess Maleficent, and the worst part was that Carly knew that there was no going back. She was dead, and the dead got no second chances._

_And yet, if she was truly dead, why did her heart still yearn so strongly for a living man? Her last thoughts before her untimely demise had been about Jack, all about Jack, and she had long since accepted that she had it _bad_ for the arrogant duelist. No matter what she had become, she still loved him just as strongly, but now it was absolutely impossible for him to ever return her affections. Not that it was all-too likely before; he was rich and famous and could have any woman he wanted (she certainly suspected that at very least his secretary was harboring feelings stronger than friendship toward him, the bitch) while she was, well, nobody. But she had hoped, maybe, that things were changing as he stayed with her. Despite being an absolutely abysmal houseguest (he had clearly not had to clean up after himself for years, so it fell to Carly to pick up the slack), Carly had welcomed him into her dingy apartment and given him free reign, and in the last few days that he was with her (after their…eventful…visit to the amusement park) he had started to genuinely voice his appreciation. He had begun to thank her every time she served him food or took his clothes to the dry cleaners, and she was shocked when she returned home one evening to find him retiling the bathroom, a home-repair job she had always meant to do but could never find the time for. It was in these last few days that she had begun to wonder in her heart of hearts if she might mean something special to him after all. A futile dream certainly, but who would begrudge a young girl her late-night fantasies?_

_Fate would, apparently. So soon after that Jack had left her, crushing her pictures of the titanic giant that had nearly killed Yusei and telling her to stop pursuing her story. He had important business with the Signers, but Carly knew this and was willing to accept the consequences. She could be useful to the Signers; despite not being all that much of a duelist she was an expert at finding out information, and surely intelligence was needed in any War? But Jack had refused, had told her, "I…want to keep you safe." The irony of course being that if she had only heeded his words, she wouldn't be in this situation right now. She still _would_ be safe. She still _would_ be…alive._

_A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, and Carly realized that she had completely lost track of time. Had an hour really already passed? Carly glanced around and noticed that there were no clocks in her room; perhaps it was an indication that the Dark Signers saw themselves as timeless. And her cell phone was buried in the ruins of Arcadia, so flipping it out and checking the time (as she had grown used to doing lately, having always found wristwatches uncomfortable) wasn't an option. Carly would just have to trust that Misty was correct, and try to get through this "meeting" as quickly as possible. She still had quite a bit of crying to get to…_

_By showing her birthmark to it Carly once again opened her door to find Misty smiling one of her tiny, somewhat solemn smiles at her. "Are you ready? Or do you need a couple more minutes? I waited fifty-five minutes before coming in order to give you a bit of leeway."_

"_No, I'm fine, I guess," Carly answered quietly. She was at least happy that she managed to keep her stutter out of her voice this time. They began to walk down the hall before Carly blurted out the first question that popped into her head._

"_How did you tell what time it was anyway, Misty? I couldn't find any clocks," Carly asked uncertainly._

"_That is because we don't need them, Carly," Misty answered, smiling a bit wider. "We Dark Signers do not fear time as humans do; we master it. An uncanny sense of time is just one of our many powers – all powers that will be available to you, once you train up a bit."_

"_Misty…" Carly started, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure that I can do this. I'm not like you guys, I'm not a fighter. I'm barely even a duelist. What makes you think that I'm the one you want?"_

"_Carly, what was the first thing that I noticed when I read your physiognomy?" Misty asked suddenly._

"_Umm…my eyes, I think?" Carly replied shakily._

"_That's how we know. That's how _I_ know, anyway. You're strong, Carly, stronger than you could ever imagine as a mortal. There's a reason why a God picked you of all people to be its emissary upon this Earth." Misty gave Carly shoulder a tight squeeze before adding, "And here we are."_

_Indeed, the pair had reached the meeting room of the Dark Signers. Carly took another deep breath as Misty let her in. The other three Dark Signers (Demak, Rudger, and Kiryu if her memory was serving her correctly) were already seated, and Rudger gestured to the seats on his left-hand side. Carly noticed that, just like their bedrooms, the Dark Signers' chairs were marked with the symbols of their respective Jibakushin as well. Carefully Carly sat herself upon the chair marked with the hummingbird sign as Misty did the same in the chair with the mark of the lizard upon it. Misty immediately turned her attention to Rudger and Carly hastened to do the same._

"_Now that we are – finally – all gathered," the imposing man began in a booming voice, "It is time for the curtains of secrecy to come down. The Dark Signers are a family, and families should keep nothing from each other," Rudger paused, a humorless grin spreading across his face. "And that is why we shall now each, in turn, tell our stories of how we came to be here. It shall inspire trust, and trust will be crucial if we are to defeat the Signers and end the era of the Akaki Ryu once and for all. Whoever wants to begin first may do so, and then we shall proceed clockwise. I think I've turned enough things counterclockwise for both of my lifetimes." At this Rudger looked down and smiled wryly, as if enjoying a secret joke._

_A few moments passed and no one spoke up. Finally Kiryu burst into maniacal laughter. "Aw, come on, no one wants to volunteer for story time? Well then, let ol' Kiryu spin you a tale!" Kiryu clutched his gut and continued, though the madness in his voice remained. "Once upon a time, there was a guy born in the shithole that Neo Domino has so affectionately termed 'Satellite.' Now this guy, bless his soul, realized that there was no way that he was getting out of Satellite within his lifetime. Outside of his lifetime, yes," and Kiryu paused here for more laughter, "but not within it. Anyway, he came up with a plan: he would form a team of duelists so widely feared that they could police Satellite to their heart's content, and then maybe it wouldn't be such a shithole after all. Instead of wishing for a new life, they would make it so that they could be satisfied with this one. So Kiryu Kyosuke decided to title this team, appropriately enough, 'Team Satisfaction.'_

"_Team Satisfaction ripped the Satellite apart, taking over territory by territory. But then Kiryu got this moronic idea to actually think that Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, and Crow…never did learn his last name, actually, but Kiryu called him Hogan because he hated it – were his friends. That they would stick by each other through thick and thin. I bet you can figure out how well that turned out," Kiryu's laughter left his voice completely here as he clenched his fists in anger. "One day Security entered Satellite in an attempt to take down all the dueling gangs. Fat lot of good that would do, since Team Satisfaction had taken care of the problem already, which ironically of course made us their sole target. Kiryu knew that they had to be stopped, had to be driven out of their home like any other gang, but over time his so-called 'friends' abandoned him. He was left fighting, alone, with virtually no hope…_

"_But then they came back. Or at least it looked like they did. Turns out they had only gathered back together to surrender like a bunch of dick-less cowards, and to convince Kiryu to do the same. But Kiryu wouldn't back down, not even when a Security pig pursued him, and when he tried to teach that fascist some manners…" Kiryu stood up here, his fury palpable, "Yusei betrayed him! Sold him out like a two-faced fucking snitch!" Kiryu brought down his fists onto the table, leaving noticeable dents. It seemed that extra strength was one of the "powers" that Misty had mentioned. Kiryu continued to hyperventilate for a moment before continuing._

"_And so Kiryu was carted away to prison like a dog, and treated worse. His dignity, his pride, his deck…all was taken away from him. So when the guards brought him food, Kiryu didn't eat. That suited them just fine, and soon the food stopped coming completely. Kiryu wasted away in that cell, withering to nothing, until one day he fell asleep and didn't wake up; well, not naturally, anyway. Kiryu had heard a voice on his last night on Earth, a voice offering him a chance at vengeance. Needless to say, he took it. Kyosuke Kiryu was reborn that night, and after slaughtering the guards and using an immortal giant to crush the prison to dust for good measure, Kiryu headed off to seek his newfound destiny. Never again would he make the mistake of relying on 'friends.' Never again would he show any amount of restraint toward his enemies. Never again would he ever pursue anything other than the slow and painful death of Yusei Fudo," Kiryu finished menacingly, before breaking into hysterics again. "Carly, if you could only see your face!" he exclaimed, guffawing wildly. Finally Kiryu (more or less) settled down, and Demak cleared his throat. Carly silently thanked Kiryu's impetuousness for ensuring that she would be the last to speak; it would give her more time to prepare a halfway decent story._

"_I'm going to try and avoid maniacal laughter, property damage, and irritating overuse of the third person throughout my speech," Demak began, glancing sideways at Kiryu. "My story begins when I was far younger, a student at the original Duel Academia. Are you all familiar with the concept of Duel Spirits?" Kiryu and Carly were the only ones who didn't immediately nod. "For those not quite so…mystically informed, I shall explain. A Duel Spirit is the spirit of a card that becomes attached to an individual person, and they all exist in an alternate dimension known as the Duel Monsters Spirit World. For whatever reason Academia Island has always been a weak point in the barrier between the dimensions, and so Duel Spirits are surprisingly common amongst the students. Not everyone has one, of course, but the ratio is far higher than anywhere else in the world. It is part of the legend surrounding former professional duelist Jun Manjoume that he had dozens of Duel Spirits. I have no idea if that is true or not, but I digress._

"_I was a Ra Yellow sophomore at the time (appropriate enough I suppose, given the color of my God) and as foolish as anyone would expect of a child so young. Pegasus J. Crawford was just introducing the concept of Synchro Monsters into the game in one final attempt to shake up the realm of Duel Monsters before his impending demise, and as a test run for them he offered up the first three printed as prizes in a school-wide tournament. The third place contestant would earn _Force of Earth Gaia Knight_, the second place contestant would earn _Monkey Mage Zeman_, and the winner would earn _Gigantech Fighter_. I entered the tournament and, inexplicably, found my way into the finals. My opponent was a brash young man with a strong but overly aggressive deck, but my formidable Trap line-up was wearing down. Finally, I had him cornered; he attacked with a massively strong monster while I had _Magic Cylinder_ face-down. One activation and the _Gigantech Fighter_ would be mine. But the Zeman card called out to me, and so like a fool I left my Trap face-down and accepted defeat._

"_Upon receiving Zeman I realized why it had spoken to me: it was my Duel Spirit. From that day onward Zeman would give me advice during duels, listen to my problems, and of course come to the field to claim me victory whenever I chose to Summon it. Synchro Monsters were powerful creatures, and with one in my deck I was nigh-unstoppable. I became arrogant, and challenged my opponent from the tournament finals to a rematch. One Synchro Monster bet against the other," Demak paused to exhale deeply. "Long story short, he won _that_ game genuinely. I had badly underestimated the power of his _Gigantech Fighter_. Upon surrendering my treasured card I implored him to take good care of it. He responded by ripping it in two."_

_Demak gritted his teeth. "To lose a Duel Spirit is to lose a part of oneself. Holding the scraps of my friend that I had so rashly thrown away, I became wholly obsessed with finding some way to resurrect him. I tore through tome after tome on arcane and spiritual subjects, trying to find some reference to Duel Spirits, with particular emphasis on bringing one back. This research continued long after I graduated school and well into my adult life. Every free moment I had was dedicated to Duel Spirit research; the pieces of Zeman's card kept hidden and secure in a private safe. I reached so many dead ends before I discovered the key to my goal: Momentum. By this time it was several years past Zero Reverse, and like so many other…uninitiated individuals, I believed the cause of it to be an earthquake. But I learned differently once I finally tracked down the head of the Momentum research – one Rudger Goodwin," Demak inclined his head toward the man at the end of the table, who smirked._

_Carly's attention perked up at this detail. She was still a reporter by inclination, and the fact that Rudger's last name just so happened to be the same as the city's Director was not lost on her. Suddenly she was anxious to hear the Dark Signer leader's tale._

"_Rudger explained that the explosion of the original Momentum reactor was in fact the reason for the Zero Reverse incident," Demak continued. "Furthermore, he informed me that Momentum, or dueling energy it had been called before it was harnessed as an energy source, was what made up the barrier that separated the physical world from the Spirit World. Zeman had not really died when his card was destroyed, but rather he had merely lost his connection to the Earth plane. With that, I breathed a sigh of relief…prematurely, I assure you. Rudger took me to the bottom of this complex, to the remains of the old Momentum reactor, where pure energy swirled about freely throughout a nearly bottomless chasm. He told me that to bring Zeman back would require immersing him in the light of Momentum and hoping for the best. I asked if there was any way that I could absolutely ensure Zeman's resurrection."_

"_And I told him that the only way would be to jump in himself," Rudger rejoined, laughing softly. His laugh gave Carly chills; it wasn't as loud or obvious as Kiryu's was, but it was clearly just as insane._

"_Yes, well, I wasn't exactly pleased with the prospect, but I did it anyway," Demak stated solemnly, raising his head up high and widening his black eyes. "There was light all around me, and yet I couldn't see it; my eyes could not absorb it. I soon realized that it wasn't light at all, but darkness masquerading as light, which is why it shimmered so randomly and chaotically. I felt life slip out of my body, but immediately afterward I felt something else replace it. In my hand I felt virtually the same thing happen to Zeman. For the first time in my new life I saw, and what I saw was my new God, Cusillu, picking me up out of the Momentum and placing me once more next to Rudger. I was now the second Dark Signer, and as I looked at my hand I saw that Zeman had become the first Dark Synchro. His card was a photo-negative of its former self, but good as new; indeed better, as his new title and appearance declared him a King. He was still my Duel Spirit, but now we were no longer friends; the Momentum had shown us both how pathetic such a bond was. Instead we were at best allies, united in a common purpose. The Demonic Monkey King Zeman has done much for our cause, taking over the Spirit World at my behest and turning thousands of Spirits into energy that can be used for our Jibakushin. When we turn this world into Hell, Zeman will be ready to do the same to his," Demak finished, allowing himself a low chuckle._

"_My turn?" Rudger asked, grinning. "Well, Demak already spoiled the big ending to my story, but I'll see what I can do. Many years ago I was a research assistant for Dr. Fudo…the Signer Yusei Fudo's father, if anyone is wondering. The other assistant was my brother, Rex Goodwin…again, yes, the same Rex that is currently for all intents and purposes ruling Neo Domino. It must seem like I'm just name-dropping here, but I assure you that I am not." Rudger stared distinctly at Carly as he said this, who quickly looked away, embarrassed that he had caught her expression of shock._

"_The three of us were part of the original MIDS research team that first discovered Momentum and its potential practical applications. Dr. Fudo was focused to the point of obsession on discovering the mysterious light's secrets, but unfortunately he also possessed an annoyingly strong conscience. When the practical Momentum experiments began to cause the occasional earthquake or two, the fool decided to shut the entire program down. I couldn't stand to see this happen. So much money, so much time sent spiraling down the drain just because he wouldn't risk harming even one innocent bystander. I swore that I'd kill myself before I let all of our hard work go to waste. Oh, how right I turned out to be…"_

_Rudger cleared his throat, and Carly was shocked (to put it mildly) to see a tiny spider fly out of the man's mouth and into his hand. "My, I was wondering where this one had ended up…" he mused before crushing the spider with his thumb and forefinger. On his right arm a missing leg on his spider birthmark reappeared. "Anyway, I began to research similar occurrences to the natural disturbances that our experiments often caused, in an attempt to diagnose the particular problem and prevent Dr. Fudo from killing the entire project. My research led me to the Nazca Lines in Peru, where I traveled immediately. There, quite literally in the middle of the desert, I met a man from Yliaster."_

"_Yliaster?" Carly exclaimed, unable to control her reaction to yet another piece of incredible news. Carly kept up-to-date on quite a few websites that would be considered by many of her colleagues to be absolutely worthless, but occasionally she knew that the "crackpots" of the world stumbled on worthwhile stories. Her insistence on the newsworthiness of some such stories had been the beginning of her troubled relationship with her editor, who seemed only to want to run "risky" news if it involved a celebrity shaving their head or neglecting to wear undergarments. Several of the stories she had brought to him involved Yliaster, a secret society that a variety of underground sites were convinced was secretly running the world._

_Rudger frowned for a moment but then grinning even more broadly. "So it seems lovely Miss Nagisa has a voice after all. It's charming; do try to use it more." Rudger inclined his head at her before moving on with his tale. "Beyond the fact that he was from Yliaster, I never learned one iota of personal information from the mysterious man. He seemed to know quite a bit about me, though…like the fact that I would do whatever it took to stop Dr. Fudo from shutting down the Momentum research. And the fact that I had the mark of the Akaki Ryu's head on my left arm."_

_At this revelation, only Demak (who had heard an abridged version of this story before) did not noticeably react. Kiryu, predictably, broke into maniacal laughter. Misty gasped audibly. Carly, meanwhile, fell out of her chair; quite embarrassed but without the blood to summon a blush, Carly reseated herself and hoped that with more practice with her Dark Signer powers she might at least have more grace. Rudger seemed pleased with the reaction. "Yes, my brothers and sisters of shadow; at one point in my life I was marked to be the leader of the Signers. So how did I become the avatar of Jibakushin Uru instead? Well, that's where chapter two of my tale comes in…or is it chapter three? I've lost count._

"_In any event, the man from Yliaster encouraged me to look into the light of the momentum for the answer that I sought. Upon returning to Domino I did so, and what I saw when I adjusted my eyes to truly see was the light's true nature. As Demak so eloquently put it, it was 'darkness masquerading as light,' a darkness that revealed unto me the secrets of the Jibakushin, their war with the Akaki Ryu, and their unjust imprisonment that the Momentum experiments might eventually undo. My course was set; I brought Dr. Fudo's plan to shut down the Momentum reactor to the attention of our lab's board of directors, and for purely monetary reasons they backed my case. Dr. Fudo was fired and I replaced him as head of the project, but the bastard had thought one step ahead of me and set up control towers to seal the Momentum energy, towers that would be activated using cards based on the disciples of the accursed Akaki Ryu itself. He managed to get away with three of the cards, though I recovered the one based on Ancient Fairy Dragon…which is still in our possession to this day. While he had slowed my plans slightly, he could not stop me by that point. I was far too determined._

"_Light and darkness had warred within me, and I chose darkness. I came to the decision to spin the Momentum reactor in reverse, with all safety inhibitors shut down; the result would be a cataclysm that would awaken the Jibakushin once more. Not that the sign on my arm was making it easy, however. The first time that my right hand tried to overload the reactor, my left hand held it back; the Akaki Ryu would not let me resurrect its greatest foes. I knew that with its symbol resting upon my flesh I could not achieve my destiny, so…" Rudger paused, his voice oozing with menacing relish, "I cut off my left arm." More gasps and maniacal laughter followed the sharing of this detail, though Carly was glad that she at least hadn't fallen out of her chair again._

"_I won't pretend that it didn't fucking hurt, but I knew that I wouldn't be capable of feeling pain for very much longer anyway. I stuck the arm in a jar of formaldehyde and then tossed it to my brother, telling him to unite the Signers and face me one day. I knew that a War was coming, and I needed to make sure that my opponents would be adequately prepared. After all, where would the fun be otherwise?" Rudger smirked widely, his voice raising a decibel or two as he continued, "I did not know what Rex would do with my arm. I did not care! With the press of a button I sent the Momentum reactor spinning uncontrollably, until the gates to the Underworld opened, explosive energy split the Domino in two, and I was enveloped in the Hikari no Yami that transformed me into the first messenger of the dead upon this Earth!"_

_Rudger had worked himself into a fanatical frenzy at this last speech and it took a few moments for him to collect himself enough to finish his tale. "From then on, as the blessed avatar of Jibakushin Uru, I worked to organize the Dark Signers into an army capable of ending the reign of the Signers and the Akaki Ryu once and for all. You have all now heard the circumstances under which I met Demak, and Kiryu I tracked down off the streets after seeing what was clearly Ccapac Apu destroying a prison in a nightly vision. Misty I found in a hospital – I won't spoil her story too much, because it's very good – after reading the signs and realizing that Ccarayhua was already residing in a patient there. And of course I am just meeting young Miss Nagisa tonight."_

"_Err…just Carly's fine, sir," Carly said uncertainly._

_Rudger laughed that unsettlingly quiet laugh of his. "Very well then, Carly. Now Misty, would you like to go?"_

"_Not particularly, but it's not really like I have a choice," Misty responded before launching into her tirade. "Well, the entire reason that I'm here is thanks to two people, one of whom is long dead and the other of whom very soon will be. I loved my brother Toby more than anything else in the world. We were inseparable; I taught him to cook and he taught me how to tie knots and make fire and a whole lot of other stuff that he had learned from a 'wilderness survival' book. He always told me that he would grow up to be a great explorer, going off to discover distant lands and catalogue new creatures. Turns out he never even had an opportunity to leave Japan." Tiny tears began welling up in Misty's eyes as she spoke, though Carly doubted that anyone else noticed them._

"_My brother was born with certain…abilities. He could make things move, just slightly, without touching them; he could train animals at a fraction of the time that it usually took, as if he actually knew what they were thinking. After reading up on it, he became convinced that he had 'psychic powers,' and that there was a society that he could join in order to practice and develop these abilities: the Arcadia Movement." The last two words were practically spat out by Misty, who glared venomously at the male Dark Signers, angry at forcing her into opening up the most painful memories of her life to public viewing. "Over the next few months I saw less and less of Toby; the damn Movement was filling him up with lies and propaganda and he was too young, too impressionable, to see through it. He had heard, through the Movement, of a supremely powerful Psychic Duelist who was using her powers to aid her in her battles: the Black Rose Witch, also known as Aki Izayoi."_

_If her pronunciation of the Arcadia Movement had been venomous, then the way that she said Aki's name was downright death-inducing. Never before had Carly heard a word pronounced with so much hate. Seeing Misty glaring once again at the male Dark Signers, she thought she understood why the avatar of the lizard wielded a Gorgon-themed deck; her stare was just as likely to petrify a man as Medusa's was._

"_So to put it simply," Misty went on, her tone still dripping with fury, "Toby went to watch one of Izayoi's duels, thinking that it might inspire him. Instead her reckless use of her psychic abilities ended up costing Toby his life. I never saw him again." At this, Misty found it impossible to maintain the anger in her voice; her temper was not abated, but her grief was overwhelming it._

"_I was at a modeling shoot at the time; my career was just taking off. A policeman called me and told me that a body had been found near where Toby had gone to see Izayoi's duel, one that had been positively identified as my brother's. I was…devastated. I couldn't move without retracing Toby's steps, I couldn't speak without spouting Toby's words, I couldn't think without Toby's sweet face popping into my head. In this state, I made the mistake of driving home. I'm sure you can guess what happened there," Misty wore a humorless smile as she revealed this. Carly, meanwhile, was trying her hardest not to cry out in terror. The woman who had been such a pillar of strength for her to lean on this day had been through so much…_

"_After my accident, I was admitted to a hospital in critical condition. Nothing the doctors could do could salvage my life. It took a very different kind of surgery, one administered by an ancient lizard God, to give me a chance at new life. A life of revenge…" Misty trailed off, staring around before realizing that Carly was next. Misty felt insurmountable guilt. She didn't want to put her in this position; now Carly would be constrained by not only her own grief but also the grief of Misty, for Carly was an exceedingly empathetic soul and was still mastered by her own emotions (as her pearly white eyes continued to reveal). Indeed the girl's eyes again swam with tears, and she was shaking slightly._

"_Alright Carly, go on now," Rudger stated in a faux-encouraging tone._

_That did it. "She's not going to share, Rudger. She's going to bed," Misty stated firmly._

"_Hey, that's not fair! We all had our little pussy-ass story sessions, now it's her turn!" Kiryu exclaimed vehemently._

_Misty responded by summoning dark energy from within her un-beating heart and blasting the three male Dark Signers back with it. "I know…certain details of her story. I will share all the information that is pertinent after I return from escorting her out. For now, she is going to bed. This is _not_ up for discussion." And with that Misty turned around and led Carly into the hallway._

_As soon as the doors closed, Carly broke down. "I c…can find m…my way back, M…Misty," she managed to choke out before running off in the opposite direction. Misty started to follow her before thinking better of it and returning to the meeting chamber. She had just used Dark Signer magic to directly attack three of her fellow Dark Signers, and that meant that her mind needed to switch into "damage control" mode very quickly. Hoping that she could get this matter to slide over with either threats of bodily injury or a wardrobe malfunction (the first option being infinitely more palatable), Misty reentered the room._

_Carly, meanwhile, ran to her bedroom as quickly as possible and collapsed on her bed, a night's worth of repressed tears spilling off her face. All that she had just heard, the terrible ordeals that the other Dark Signers had had to experience and the vicious monsters that it had turned them into, made her doubts about why _she_ would be chosen as one all the more stronger. Each and every one of them, even Misty, spoke about everything from cold-blooded murder to plunging the world into Hell at best callously, and at worst zealously. Kiryu had crushed a prison building filled with guards and inmates into dust, Demak had enslaved an entire dimension, Rudger had actually _caused_ Zero Reverse, and Misty quite clearly couldn't wait to viciously slaughter Aki Izayoi. Could she really someday be _that_ terrible of a person? Or was she already?_

"_Why have I been chosen as a Dark Signer?" she asked out loud. "What am I supposed to do now?"_

_What Carly had not expected was for her to receive a reply. A booming voice that seemed to fill the room, not coming from any apparent source, answered her. "Carly…if you wish to know, then choose your fate!"_

"_My fate?" she asked the voice._

"_That's right…choose the fate that has been assigned to you!" it continued._

_Carly was apprehensive; she didn't think that her silly use of her deck to tell her fortune for the day was really going to work for such an important matter. But she supposed it couldn't hurt, so she removed her deck from her pocket and was surprised to find one of the cards glowing. As if in a trance Carly picked the card from the pile and turned it over. Instantly the Hikari no Yami filled her eyes, and she understood. Understood her destiny, understood the role that fate had prescribed for her in the coming battle, understood just how the end of the world might allow her to have Jack after all…_

_Carly's eyes widened, now black as ebony._

[--------------------]

Carly's eyes widened. Blinking, she began to wonder what she was doing here on what appeared to be a war-torn battlefield, leaning up against the wreckage of a large white motorcycle and cradling a sleeping Jack in her arms. She was just at the Dark Signer's headquarters, finally realizing the truth that had eluded her for so long…

Soon it all came back; Carly had succeeded at killing Jack, and more importantly she had succeeded at bringing him back to life. Staring at his right arm, she saw that the mark of the hummingbird was glowing, the wings of the Crimson Dragon nowhere to be seen. Carly didn't want to force him to go through what Rudger did; she rather preferred her men to be of the two-armed variety. As such she had convinced Aslla piscu to mystically remove his Signer mark prior to reviving him. This was more dangerous for the Dark Signers, as the mark was now free to find whoever it wished to bestow its power upon next, but Carly wouldn't budge on the issue. Perhaps that was why the two of them had fallen asleep so suddenly, Carly realized; removing the mark of the Akaki Ryu _and_ bringing another mortal back to life under its power must have heavily exhausted Aslla piscu, so the God had decided to knock out its hosts to save energy. Crude but effective, she had to admit.

That would at least explain why her dream had gone on for so long. Curiously, the dreams of a Dark Signer (when they even had them at all) were never abstract. Instead they were memories, _always_ memories, and as far as she could tell _only_ memories from the Dark Signer's death onward. This particular memory was one that she often dreamed bits and pieces of, but never before had she dreamt more or less the whole thing in one sitting. Somewhat curious though was the fact that she had gotten glimpses of some of Misty's thoughts throughout the ordeal, something that couldn't possibly be derived from her own memory and _certainly_ something that had never happened before. But her gratitude toward Aslla piscu was immeasurable right now, and so she was willing to put the matter out of her mind and focus on explaining to Jack his new life…and their new shared destiny.

Smiling serenely at the man in her lap, Carly waited patiently for Jack to awaken.

[--------------------]

"Umm...Yusei?" Crow asked, feeling fairly awkward. He was hoping against hope that he wasn't about to receive the answer he was expecting.

"Yeah, Crow?" Yusei answered distractedly, anxious to begin searching for Aki. After the hummingbird geoglyph had disappeared from the sky so suddenly, their group had split up; Ushio and the twins had gone to check on Jack, while Crow had joined him to go and reinforce Aki. They had just arrived at an abandoned amusement park, and the pulsing of his birthmark was indicating that his fellow Signer was nearby.

"What happens to a Signer's mark when a Signer…y'know…dies?" Crow continued hesitantly.

"I have no idea, Crow. Why would you ask that?" Yusei responded, turning toward his friend.

"Because…I think it just happened to Jack," Crow replied solemnly, his eyes growing wet, as he held up a right arm that was now emblazoned with the wings of the Crimson Dragon.

[--------------------]

A/N: Wow, the response from the prologue was quite exceptional. A particular shout-out to orangerebellion for one of the best-written reviews I have ever seen for a single chapter of a fanfic; I believe I made my gratitude clear in my response, LOL.

For those wondering, in this AU everything that happened in canon prior to episode 58 is still canon. The only difference is that Jack did not have activate his face-down _Change Destiny_, so as his dream in the canon episode indicated, he died and was brought back as a Dark Signer. From there onward the AU will progress fairly differently.

This chapter takes place during Yusei's conversation with his father's spirit (i.e. when the events of episode 59 would have occurred in canon), and ends right as Misty's final duel with Aki is beginning.

Sorry for readers expecting more of present-day Carly and Jack interaction, but I really needed to establish a lot of information regarding my interpretations of canon, and the dream sequence and "story time" sessions did the trick. I promise that said fans will get more of their fill once next chapter rolls around. ;)

Speaking of which, updates this frequently aren't likely to happen very often from this point onward. I start college again on Tuesday, at which point I'll be pretty damn busy. I'll try to make time when I can, but I won't guarantee anything. Reviews however, especially high-quality ones, will greatly encourage me to continue at a quicker pace, so keep hittin' that review button!

- Masterdramon


	3. Reawakening

**My Dark King – Chapter 3: Reawakening**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[--------------------]

_Jack Atlas stared at the cheap construct of wire and glass and wished for death._

_The roof of Rex Goodwin's mansion was ideal for the quiet, contemplative solitude that the former King so cherished. No one bothered him up here, with the occasional irritating exception of Mikage. Jack's brow furrowed at the thought of his attractive but overly attentive secretary. He would need to make it clear to her soon that there was absolutely no chance of a relationship between them; he resolved to do it once they arrived in Satellite. That way he would be free to go off and try to save the woman to whom his heart truly belonged…_

_Jack had no idea how a young girl of virtually no social or economic import had so completely captured his love in so short a time, but ultimately he did not care. He would save her from the grasp of either the hummingbird or lizard Jibakushin, and he would rip the offending God's wielder to motherfucking pieces. And if he died trying, he would accept it as an appropriate punishment. If Carly had not so generously taken him in, she would never have been involved in the Signer/Dark Signer War in the first place, and she wouldn't have been in the Arcadia Building when it went down. Either he would rescue her back into life or join her in death; he would not allow the barriers of life and death to separate them any longer._

_Carly…_

The image was fading. Jack had more than a bit of experience with lucid dreaming, having very rarely slept with a restful mind during his formative years in Satellite, but he had never before experienced a dream attempt to slip away from him. The image of him holding Carly's glasses was flickering out like a bad television signal, while the sounds of his former thoughts were growing ever more distant. Jack reached out his arms as if to reign his dream back in, but it was no use; pitch-blackness was the only thing that filled his mind now.

Quite distinctly, Jack was sure that he heard a deep but distant voice say, "How quaint – you're resisting. But My strength has returned to Me, and you are Mine."

Jack's consciousness of his dream state dissipated into the void surrounding him. Aslla piscu was satisfied; the boy would remember none of this upon his awakening.

_Jack's eyes flickered open. Standing over him was Carly, smiling as only Carly could. "C…C…Carly?" he managed to utter, completely bewildered and yet strangely relieved._

"_Rest for a moment," Carly told him, rubbing his temples as she did so. It felt so good, so relaxing; his millions of questions faded away as he focused solely on enjoying her touch. Suddenly he felt tired, so very tired, and he knew that slumber would claim him within moments. The last thing he heard before drifting off was Carly's soothing voice assuring him, "All will be explained in due time, my beloved. My…Dark King."_

[--------------------]

Jack's eyes flickered open. Standing over him was Carly, her smile even wider than it had been in his dream. He scarcely had time to look around before she locked him in a tight embrace. "For a moment, I was sure that I had lost you," she choked out, and Jack realized that she was crying. Questions, he decided, could wait for a moment; he focused instead on comforting the woman that he loved.

[--------------------]

Divine was confused, and that never boded well for him. According to his psychic visions Yusei Fudo should have just appeared around the nearby corner, with Divine ready to spring his false trap. Divine's warning about the falling billboard would gain the imbecilic boy's trust, allowing him to lead the interfering Signer into his true trap. The boy had an annoying tendency to…distract Aki from her missions, and the psychic couldn't have that happen today. The Dark Signers needed to be exterminated, and Aki needed to be the one to do it. He couldn't lose his Black Rose Witch, not after he had spent so much time and effort cultivating her.

Divine waited several more minutes before giving the operation up as a bad job. Clearly, someone or something inordinately powerful was toying with fate, for only powers greater than his could alter the future as he predicted it. Divine had little time to consider this issue, however, for unless _all_ of his predictions for that day had been invalidated, Aki was due to fall onto an enormous shard of glass in three minutes. Yusei or no Yusei, it was time to put his plan into action. Divine chanted the phrase in his mind that would bring him victory today, the phrase that he had long ago planted into Aki's subconscious, the phrase that would turn the relatively mannerly girl into a killing machine…

_Reawaken the rose and strangle the weed._

[--------------------]

Yusei Fudo was walking without really moving. After Crow had revealed to him his newly acquired sign, Yusei had hoarsely suggested that they split up to cover more ground as they searched for Aki, and Crow had readily accepted the excuse to go off and cry privately. The high-spirited boy hated for others to see him vulnerable, and Yusei did not want to intrude on his privacy. Besides, Yusei had his own contemplations to get along with…

The one duel the Signer had not personally attended to support his allies had been the one duel that he should have gone to above all others. Yusei had been sure that Jack – proud, self-sufficient Jack – wouldn't need his help to take down the hummingbird Dark Signer, but apparently he has been sadly mistaken. And Jack had paid the price with his life. The two duelists may have had their differences in the past, but if anyone were ever to ask Yusei for the identity of his best friend, the answer "Jack Atlas" would have been delivered instantaneously. Jack was like a brother to him; no, screw biology, Jack _was_ his brother.

Trying to think of things from a practical perspective didn't help to alleviate Yusei's guilty conscience much either. Though Yusei was somewhat touched that the Akaki Ryu had acknowledged Crow's growing role in the War, he knew that Jack's role in their group was irreplaceable. He brought a supreme confidence and drive to their operations, always keeping the Signers focused on the larger picture and the greater good. Yusei vividly remembered how Jack had convinced him to confront Kiryu once again via a punch in the gut. The subsequent pain was exactly what he needed to get out of his funk, but Yusei knew that none of his other friends would have been able to deliver it. With Jack's death the world had not just lost a great man, but an inimitable hero as well.

Yusei allowed himself a single tear before turning to search for Aki in the Hall of Mirrors.

[--------------------]

Jack had no idea how long he sat there holding Carly, nor did he much care. She might be an enemy now, but he had waited to do this for so long. Finally they parted, Carly's eyes having dried themselves unnaturally quickly. Though he was loath to disturb that beautiful face, he needed answers, and this seemed as good a time as any to ask the questions. "What's going on here, Carly?" he began. "The last thing I remember, I had…lost the duel. But I'm still here, somehow. I…I should be dead." Jack was somewhat embarrassed by his undignified tone, but there was little choice for him, as he was utterly disoriented.

"You _are_ dead, Jack," Carly stated simply. The girl was using the same disconcertingly calm voice that she had used to describe her own death to him earlier that day, and it disturbed him immensely.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked incredulously. "I'm sitting and talking to you right now! How can I be dead?"

"The same way that I am sitting and talking to you right back, of course," Carly stated matter-of-factly. "Take a look at your arm."

Wondering what she was getting at, Jack glanced downward for the first time since he had awoken and immediately saw what the girl was alluding to. Absent on his right forearm was the deep crimson birthmark that marked his position as a Signer, and in its place was an intricate representation of a violet hummingbird, matching precisely the mark that still burned bright on the arm that was holding him comfortingly. Jack knew that there was only one thing that the symbol could signify, but he would not, _could_ not, believe it.

"I am not a Dark Signer!" he declared authoritatively, but Carly just smiled slightly as if he was a toddler stating firmly that Santa Claus was real.

"Come now, Jack. You've never been one to go into denial about the obvious. What other explanation could there be?" Carly asked him, trying to push him to think logically about the situation as only Jack Atlas could.

Jack didn't respond immediately, instead merely clenching his fists and shaking his head vigorously. Carly had expected this; what she hadn't expected was for him to suddenly erupt in fury. "How could you do this to me, Carly?" he yelled, taking her aback.

At least he was no longer in complete denial about the entire affair, she noted. Still, now that the infamous Atlas temper had come to the surface, she needed to handle this…delicately. "It was my only choice, Jack. Destiny decreed that I battle you today, and that I attain victory. It was not my decision that you had to die. But it _was _my decision to give you new life. An eternal life, with me…"

She moved to place a hand on his cheek, but he swatted it away immediately. "And so you had that…_demon_ get inside me?" he cried disgustedly.

At this she finally became cross. "Aslla piscu is _not_ a demon," she stated in a commanding tone that the previous Carly, _his_ Carly, had never used. "It is a great and mighty God, to whom I owe my entire existence…as do you, Jack. You sound like an ungrateful child."

"Ungrateful?" he roared. "Just because I don't want to be a pawn to evil forces that wish to bring about the Apocalypse?"

"Evil is…a point of view, Jack," she began. "If you had only seen what I have seen, visions of the glorious times that shall follow this unfortunate but necessary War, then you would understand that the Jibakushin's goals are not so ignoble after all. Together, you and I are now free to make a new world, a better world!"

"Carly, listen to yourself!" Jack rejoined. "The Carly that took me in a few weeks ago would never have talked like this. 'Better world' my ass!"

Carly was stunned slightly by this turn of conversation, but recovered quickly. "I'm still that same girl, Jack," she told him softly, though a brief mental image of her heel crushing her glasses danced through her mind. She ignored it. "I'm just…stronger, is all. I'm no longer that stupid klutz who was incapable of walking ten meters without tripping over her own feet. I've worked tirelessly to become worthy enough to stand by your side, the perfect Queen to you, my Dark King…"

"Don't call me that!" Jack answered boomingly, his temper continuing to rise. "I am no longer King, and as for 'Dark'…you may have had your filthy bird turn me into a Dark Signer, but I will _never_ fight on its side! I am a Signer, and I need to rejoin my friends." And with that, Jack turned around and began tearing his way back toward the hummingbird control tower.

Carly was frozen where she stood, confused and conflicted. This wasn't supposed to happen; everything was supposed to be alright again once she brought Jack back to life! She had expected a tearful reunion, a reaffirmation of purpose, and maybe even, Aslla piscu forbid, the couple's first kiss. She hadn't expected a fight, not of that magnitude…

Well, there was no use moping around about the situation now, she resolved. That was how her former, _foolish_ self would have acted. Now she was wiser and would accept reality, working to correct the situation instead of just crying about it all day. Her mind set, Carly began walking toward her D-Wheel in order to pursue Jack, but was interrupted by a brash male voice shouting, "Freeze!"

Carly stopped immediately, her Dark Signer senses informing her that a gun was being trailed on the back of her head. Raising up her hands Carly slowly turned around to find an incensed Officer Tetsu Ushio, his service arm continuing to point straight at her.

"Crap…" she muttered under her breath. "This could take a while."

[--------------------]

Rex Goodwin smiled smugly at the glowing arm before him, his empty eyes no longer glamoured white for the benefit of the public.

The prospect of his ascendance being so close at hand was making the Director nearly salivate with anticipation. The wheels of destiny were turning, bringing the Earth and the Underworld ever closer to collision. And bringing him ever closer to becoming master of both.

In mere hours, he would become God.

[--------------------]

A/N: Okay, I did in fact manage to push out one more chapter right before classes started, though at the expense of it being a little short. Hope y'all don't mind. In any event, you have United Airlines to thank for this chapter, as I finished about half of it during an hour-and-a-half flight delay.

Once again, I'd like to thank my wonderful reviewers; if it were not for you guys, I wouldn't be updating nearly this quickly. I'd like to thank everyone for their generous compliments, most particularly Cap'n Sanji and, again, orangerebellion (seriously dude, you are like the greatest freaking reviewer on the planet…do you plan to go into that much detail for _every_ chapter? :p)

In the interest of promoting speculation, I'm going to begin previewing the next chapter title at the end of each Author's Note. So stay tuned for Chapter 4: _Reconciliation_.

- Masterdramon


	4. Reconciliation

**My Dark King – Chapter 4: Reconciliation**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

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Officer Tetsu Ushio stared hard at the Dark Signer before him, his pistol sight not leaving her forehead. He was a man of justice, and that meant clearing away scum like this before they could hurt anyone else. Still, something was…off about this one. He didn't get quite the same vibe from her that he got off of Demak or Kiryu, whom he was unable to regard as anything other than despicable bastards. Blinking, he realized why: he recognized her, vaguely.

"Err…don't I know you?" he asked awkwardly. The tip of his pistol lowered slightly.

Carly stared back angrily at the broad man. Jack was gaining distance on her by the minute, and though she was fairly confident that his next destination would be the hummingbird control tower in a vain attempt to seal it and prolong the world's inevitable end, she was nonetheless loath to let him get too far. He was in a highly volatile emotional state, and she was on a strict time limit if she didn't want him to become dust in the wind by the end of the week. Dark Signers might not _fear_ time, but right now Carly had to admit that it had the advantage on her. So much work still left to do, and here was this…buffoon standing in her way. He would receive no mercy.

Squinting, she realized that she did indeed recognize the burly Security Officer. This was the man whom Rudger had possessed in order to challenge the recovering Jack in the hospital. That had been the day that she had met them both, and the…unique circumstances of their duel had been the driving force that first brought her and Jack together. Almost laughing at the irony – after all, who was wielding the mark of a Jibakushin now? – she slowly lowered her right hand. The fool had only met her one time that he could possibly remember, a brief visitation to her home in the aftermath of the hospital incident, and the physical differences between her current and former selves were so drastic that identifying her would be nearly impossible. But the fact that her appearance dimly registered in the back of his mind had caused him to hesitate for a moment, and a moment was all she needed.

With one swift motion Carly brought her hand forward and sent a concentrated burst of dark energy at the service arm held in the Officer's hands. The gun exploded on contact, singing the skin on both his palms and eliciting a sharp cry of pain. The Dark Signer followed up the action by rushing forward through the air, her palm extended. Pouring more energy into her hand Carly pressed it hard against Ushio's chest, the impact immediately cracking some ribs and sending the man flying at least twenty feet. With a satisfying crunch the Officer struck the ground forcefully, writhing in pain. She was about to move over to his crippled form and finish the job when the voices of two children interrupted her.

"Ushio, what the fuck is taking so long?" a tiny emerald-haired boy asked rudely. "Haven't you found Jack yet?"

"Rua! Don't use that kind of language!" chastised a little girl who could only be the boy's twin sister. Carly was sure that this was one of the contestants from the Fortune Cup who, through photographic evidence of her arm, had been proven to be a Signer. Well, it was never a bad time to eliminate potential threats, even if she _was_ running a bit late…

Ushio turned to the sources of the voices, panic settling in. The twins were emerging onto the hill, unaware of the danger that awaited them. As a mere Security Officer he might be expendable, but these were just kids goddammit, and Ruka was a Signer. Based on what he had just experienced Ushio had no reason to doubt that this orange-and-black-clad woman would be willing to slaughter children, and indeed when he looked her way he saw her eyeing them with a disturbingly interested gaze.

Ushio stiffened his resolve, knowing what he had to do. Gasping for breath, he turned toward the twins, his face anguished. "Run, now!" he screamed, clutching his chest. "Get in the jeep, drive off, just get the fuck away from here!"

"Ushio-sama, we can't leave you like this!" Ruka objected. "What in the world happened to you?"

"No time to explain! Just get away from that woman over there!" Ushio yelled, pointing shakily at Carly.

"Not even going to give me a choice in the matter, Ushio-_sama_?" Carly interrupted, stressing the honorific condescendingly. Despite the circumstances she was starting to enjoy having a little action, and her smirk reflected it. "I happen to rather _like_ children, you know."

And with that, Carly rushed forward and grabbed Rua by the collar. "The boy first, I think," she said, staring down at Ruka the entire time. "I'll let you watch, filthy Signer. Then it will be your turn." Carly raised her hand and gathered an inordinate amount of dark energy within it – her mercy toward children extending only so far as that she would grant these two quick deaths – before being blindsided by a desperate but evidently still mobile Security Officer. His awkward tackle sent the pair tumbling to the ground, and Rua fell down hard right at his sister's feet. Wincing, the Dark Signer grabbed the man by the neck and roughly flung him to the side before an enormous burst of crimson light forced her to hold her face in agony. Nearly the entirety of a Dark Signer's eyes were pupils, allowing them highly advanced vision but also vastly decreasing their tolerance for light, and so to Carly it felt as if she had just spent the last hour staring at the sun…from point-blank range.

Ruka stared in wonder at her birthmark, which was evidently acting of its own accord. More red light flew out of claw, enveloping Rua and Ushio in a large bubble. Ruka knew that the Akaki Ryu's intervention had only bought them a few precious moments, so she quickly turned and ran back to Ushio's jeep, the bubble following her through the air. As soon as they reached the back seat the bubble disappeared, depositing its "passengers" onto the soft cushions. Both immediately opened their eyes in amazement. "What the Hell did you just do, Ruka?" Rua exclaimed, his arms in the air.

Ruka didn't bother to tell her brother off for his language this time. "I don't know, but I do know that we won't be around much longer to figure it out if we stay here. Ushio-sama, can you drive?"

"Yeah, I think so…" the Security Officer answered, flexing his hands in amazement. "It's astounding…something in that light must've healed me or something. Alright kids, buckle in!" he ordered, settling into the driver's seat. Starting the jeep as quickly as possible, Ushio drove off to rendezvous with Yusei, Crow, and hopefully Aki-san and Mikage-san. They had failed to find Jack, but at least the three of them were still alive. For now, that would have to be enough.

[--------------------]

Mikage Sagiri paced her holding cell several more times before swearing loudly. Normally the high-class woman kept a strictly clean tongue, but her current predicament was severely annoying her. Whoever the fraudulent Security Officer actually was, he evidently wanted to keep her out of the way while he conducted other business…probably with Aki-san. Or else with the other Signers, who could not possibly be too far behind them by now. In turn Mikage had seen signs for the monkey, killer whale (she still wasn't sure what to make of _that_ one, considering that it represented nothing relating to the old Momentum reactor), giant, spider, and finally hummingbird suddenly appear and then disappear from the sky. Surely, then, Yusei or Crow or Ushio would soon come to rescue her from this cage. Or, better yet…

"Atlas-sama!" she screamed her thought aloud. As uncomfortable as this cell was, her imprisonment might be worth it if she could extract a daring "damsel in distress" rescue from the man of her dreams. But in her heart of hearts, she knew that it was not to be. Jack's love belonged to another, less worthy source, and try as she might there was little she could do about it.

Carly Nagisa. What Jack saw in that silly, klutzy girl, Mikage simply couldn't fathom. It couldn't possibly be her looks; besides a decent figure and a fair bust size, Carly had nothing particularly special going on for her in terms of her physical appearance, and even these assets were completely negated by the girl's utter lack of fashion sense. Those glasses that seemed to fascinate Jack more than every star in the heavens put together were, quite frankly, atrocious, and as for the rest of her typical wardrobe – white and periwinkle blue stripes? Really?

It couldn't possibly be her personality, either. Carly was forgetful, spacey, and clumsy to a fault. Some men, she acknowledged, might find such a person somewhat endearing; she had a vague sense that it might be the kind of personality type that could attract Crow, for instance. But Atlas-sama? _Her_ Atlas-sama? He deserved far better than a fool who could never really provide for him, never take care of him, never nurture his every need and desire…like Mikage would. So how could he choose _her_?

"Atlas-sama!" Mikage cried out once more, but this time she received an answer. Mikage could hardly believe her eyes when she saw an arm marked with the wings of the Crimson Dragon push the door open. Mikage prepared to act weary and faint in order to…persuade Jack to carry her, until she looked closely at the figure entering the room. It wasn't Jack at all.

It was Crow. "Is someone in here?" he called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to better carry the sound.

Severely disappointed, Mikage shouted back, "Down here, Crow-san!" The teenager looked around confusedly until he turned his gaze straight down and saw Mikage standing on the ground several meters below him, the two separated by thick metal grating. Nodding to indicate that he had seen her, Crow began scoping out the room to see if there was any way for Mikage to escape. Fortunately there was an open trapdoor near the end of the room; evidently her abductor had neglected to close it after throwing her in. Motioning the woman toward the opening Crow then searched the large piles of debris lining the walls until he found what he was looking for: a thick cord of rope.

In a few short moments Mikage had climbed free and dusted herself off before turning to Crow. "What happened to Atlas-sama?" she demanded in distressed tones, taking him aback. "Why do you have his birthmark? Tell me!"

Crow looked downward and shuffled his feet a bit before answering in somber tones, "I'm sorry, Mikage…this isn't going to be easy to hear. It certainly wasn't easy for me." Taking a deep breath, Crow finished, "Jack is dead."

Shock pierced Mikage's heart like a well-aimed bullet. Of all the things she had been dreading that Crow might say, that was…unthinkable…

Swiftly drifting away from consciousness, Mikage began to sway violently where she stood. Crow had just enough time to grab her and prevent her from falling backward before she fainted completely.

[--------------------]

Several minutes after the fiasco with the young Signer, Carly finally managed to gain enough strength to stand. Her eyes were still swimming with spots, and she was continually repeating the word "shit" under her breath with various inflections. The child was no longer going to gain the privilege of a quick death; she was now damn sure of _that_.

After a few more moments on her feet the Dark Signer's vision cleared completely, and in a deep temper she made her way to her custom D-Wheel. That little…detour had cost her more time than even she had anticipated, and with any more delay Jack could be about anywhere by the time she caught up to him. Donning her helmet and revving the engine, Carly shot forward at an alarming speed, straight toward the control tower that it was her mission to guard.

[--------------------]

Divine smirked with immense satisfaction; his plan was going perfectly. His code phrase had reawoken the lethal ferocity of the Black Rose Witch once more, and now Aki was tearing through the Dark Signer Misty's defenses as if they were cardboard. Which, he supposed, they technically were. Divine allowed himself a hearty maniacal laugh at that thought; he hadn't really had a decent chance to do so since the downfall of Arcadia. His laughter was heavily cut short, however, by a sharp pang in his psychic senses. Looking down at the duel, he noticed that the Dark Signer's grin was wide as she gazed upon the card she had drawn. This didn't bode well.

"This is the end," Misty declared. "I activate _Advanced Force_! Through this card's effect, _Bad End – Queen Dragon_ can be Released for two tributes."

Divine swallowed. Indeed, this did not bode well _at all_. The number of things that could make the psychic duelist sweat could be counted on one hand, but those fucking Jibakushin topped the list. Last time one had appeared he had come within an inch of death, and the prospect of seeing another scared him shitless.

Misty seemed to radiate savage pleasure as she continued, "The God who revived my life…I offer you my soul! Come forth, _Jibakushin Ccarayhua_!"

The release of energy was instantaneous, as pure power beyond even Divine's massive potential poured out of the Dark Signer's ebony Duel Disk. Looking into the sky, Divine saw an enormous heart (well, he wasn't really sure _what_ to call the abomination, but it vaguely _resembled_ the shape of a heart) materialize from out of the card's energy and begin to gather what appeared to be the shadows of the air itself. Once satisfied the heart positively exploded with dark energy, and left in its wake was a titanic lizard, towering over the two duelists.

"Do you see this God, Izayoi?" Misty shouted while employing her trademark glare, though not to the effect that she had hoped for; the accursed Signer didn't even flinch. Misty would not let this unexpected calm deny her, however; revenge was a dish best served cold, and though she no longer ate she had waited for far too long not to savor this meal. She continued, "It is the mark of my hatred of you. Let every ounce of its onslaught make you feel the pain that I felt when you took Toby from me. _Ccarayhua_, direct attack!"

The massive God obeyed its host's call, reaching down to the Signer to extinguish her life permanently. Unfazed, Aki simply pressed an activator button on her Duel Disk and pointed forward with her arm as an enormous stone fist clenched onto Ccarayhua's reptilian hand, impeding its progress. "Trap, activate! _Ground Capture_!" she yelled. "I halved the Battle Damage from one of my opponent's monsters!" Though the ensuing granite shrapnel rained down upon her and cut away most of her Life Points, the Black Rose Witch stood firm. She was still in this duel, and she would see it through to the death.

[--------------------]

Although Jack had been running for at least twenty minutes straight, he found that he was not tired in the slightest. He supposed that this was to be attributed to his newly acquired…status.

Jack shook his head violently as if to try to wake up from a horrible nightmare, but the world around him remained resolutely physical. Still, it was simply unbelievable that Carly, _his_ Carly, could have _killed_ him…

But she had. Jack Atlas was no dreamer, which was part of the reason that the fantasy-driven Carly had attracted him in the first place; she could dream enough for the both of them. He was a realist by nature, and so he forced himself to accept the truth: driven by some insane brainwashing on fate or destiny or whatever, Carly had dueled him, won, and then killed him as a result. And now she had brought him back as a Dark Signer himself, which represented a whole host of other problems.

Jack had been so _sure_ that dueling Carly would be enough to save her from the Jibakushin's curse and bring her back into the light where she belonged, but instead he had merely joined her in darkness. Despite what he had shouted to her as they parted, Jack knew that he could never return to his friends now; they would, reasonably, suspect him to be an inside agent for their enemies, rendering him ostracized at best and dead again at worst. It would be what _he_ would do if, say, Kiryu showed up and asked to join them. But at the same time, he couldn't return to Carly, either. That fucking hummingbird had done something to her that forced her to believe the Dark Signers' garbage about "making a better world," and now she was so far-gone from the woman whom he had fallen in love with that he hardly recognized her.

Okay, he had to admit, that last part wasn't entirely true. There were elements of her new personality that utterly disturbed him – the way her joyous smile had been replaced by a cruel smirk, or the way that she callously dismissed the klutziness that she had possessed in life – but at the same time he couldn't deny that she still massively attracted him. Even some of the traits that she had picked up as a Dark Signer impressed him, reluctant as he was to admit it; her newfound confidence, for one, and her strength as a duelist for another. And he had to say, though he resented the Dark Signers for sticking such as innocent girl in such…revealing clothing in the first place, he couldn't say that he hated seeing more of her perfect skin.

Jack did a mental double take on that one. He was disgusted with himself not only for having such thoughts, but also because engaging in some of the activities that his subconscious was now actively imagining would essentially be necrophilia. He hoped that he would at least never stoop _that_ low, but given how hard it was to let go of her when they had embraced earlier, he honestly wasn't sure that he would be able to maintain restraint if she ever offered.

Jack was relieved of further contemplation on this…unnerving subject as he reached his destination, a silver tower marked with the same sign that now adorned his right arm. He was somewhat surprised that there was no better security than a simple door, but he supposed that the flaming geoglyphs that the Dark Signers could conjure seemingly at will served as a much better blockade than any lock or alarm system ever could. Kicking his way in (just like his endurance, Jack could feel that his strength had vastly increased in his current state), Jack approached the platform upon which the seal on the old Momentum reactor's power rested. While he was no longer in fit condition to join his friends in opposing the Dark Signers, he hoped that at least this last small action would give Jack Atlas something to be remembered by in the eyes of Yusei and the others.

Jack removed his deck from his pocket and extracted the card he needed before an unexpected surge of power scorched his fingers, causing him to drop all of his cards to the floor in shock. Red Dæmon's Dragon burned with crimson light, and Jack could guess why; it no longer recognized its master, and was furious at being handled by one with the touch of the enemy. Still, this job _needed_ to be done, so Jack steadied himself against the pain to come before quickly grabbing the Signer Dragon and slamming it onto the activator designed for it.

Immediately the tower began to sink, a development that Jack had neither anticipated nor planned for. There was no time to gather up his fallen deck; as it was, there was barely enough time for him to snatch up his Red Dæmon's Dragon and dive out of the open doorway before the control tower completely disappeared. Panting, he stared back at the empty ground somberly. He had completed his task, but at a great cost; the cards that he had owned ever since he had first begun playing the game in Satellite, save one, were now gone. And even then, the only one he had salvaged was one that caused him tremendous pain whenever he even touched it, let alone played it in a duel.

Distantly, the former King heard the roar of a motorcycle engine. Turning his head Jack saw Carly approaching on the Western horizon, framed by the rapidly approaching sunset. She was still a decent distance away, but he knew it would be futile to run now; the area they were in was basically flat, and in a straight-on race of speed a D-Wheel would always beat a foot-racer. Given this, Jack simply got to his feet and remained standing, waiting for the war of words that was surely soon to come.

[--------------------]

After nearly an hour of constant struggling, Yusei finally wriggled free of the debris that had been pinning him down.

It had been incredibly sudden, the burst of energy that had brought the aged Hall of Mirrors down, but that didn't make the result any less painful. Virtually the only intact wall left in the place had fallen upon him as he had searched the Hall for Aki, crushing his lower body, while small mirror fragments had embedded themselves in his upper body and face. Fortunately his arms were free and he was able to extract most of the pieces of glass, but he was still bleeding as severely as one could while being basically mobile. In any event, his focus was not really on his physical pain right now…

What was really disturbing him was that he could've sworn that he had heard Aki's voice call out "Black Rose Gale!" the moment before the wall had come down. Yusei remembered uneasily the chaos that Aki's psychic powers had caused at the Fortune Cup, but she had control over them now, didn't she? He had smiled so genuinely during their last duel when Aki had managed to arrest her conjured wind and prevent her father from being killed, confident that his fellow Signer would become more open and less guarded now that she had mastery over what she had once called a curse. Could she be backsliding?

Frowning at the implications of this thought, Yusei tore toward the open area in the distance as fast as his injuries would allow. A shimmering glass dome stood there, towered over by what was unmistakably an Earthbound God. This wasn't good.

[--------------------]

Jack wasn't running away from her, which was a hopeful sign. Carly was still convinced that she could bring the proud man to her side. She just needed to change…tactics.

Dismounting her D-Wheel, Carly turned to Jack, who remained silent; evidently he was waiting for her to make the first move. She did, as she forcefully pressed her lips onto Jack's.

The feeling was utter bliss, and for just a moment Carly forgot why she had come in the first place. This was nothing like kissing Jack's corpse; as romantic as that had seemed when she had first conceived of it, the action had been downright disturbing when actually put into practice. But this was different. No longer were the man's ruby lips loose and unyielding; now they were pleasantly firm and were returning every ounce of emotion that she was conferring upon him tenfold. She could tell that he too was forgetting the circumstances, that he too was leaving all thinking by the wayside and just _feeling_, that he too had wanted this for so long that when the release finally came he had found it almost unbearable.

Finally their lips parted, though after how long Carly did not know; it was not because of a need of oxygen, since Dark Signers didn't breath. But pleasure mixed with her disappointment as Carly swiftly but tactfully put her plan into place. "Open your eyes, Jack," she asked him softly, and she knew that there was no way in Hell that he would refuse her now.

As Jack's black eyes fluttered open, Carly willed the Hikari no Yami that had shown _her_ the truth to flow through her body and out of her own empty corneas. She had been trying things wrong, trying to use logic to persuade a Jack still bound by the cognitive limits of mortals, and she hoped that as with her this light-that-was-darkness could show him the answers that eluded all but the most enlightened. Jack's features were stern for a moment before relaxing…and then abruptly, the Dark Signer fell unconscious.

[--------------------]

_Hell stretched before him, and Jack Atlas merely smiled._

_Everything around him was his. Finally he was not only _called_ a King but _treated_ as one. Servants resembling zombies from American movies did his every bidding, while numerous other ghostly figures gathered outside of his magnificent palace every day merely to worship him. And of course, Carly, the love of his life (or rather death, he supposed) stood beside him at every turn. She was his as well, though he didn't _own_ her like he did the palace. No, she stayed at his side because she loved him in return, and together they ruled over the fallen land that Earth had become. So engrossed was he in his mental canonization of the woman next to him that it took him several moments to realize that she was speaking. He tuned in as she paused for breath – a force of habit that the former humans still hadn't entirely cured themselves of, even though it was no longer strictly necessary – and began a new sentence._

"…_And in this world, you're the High Ruler of Hell, Dark King," she told him._

_Jack wasn't sure why she was telling him something he already knew, but he didn't care; he adored the title that his wife had chosen to bestow upon him, and he never got tired of hearing her use it. "Dark King…" he muttered, before truly taking the implications of that honor to heart and smirking sinisterly. "That's right, I've awakened through death," he declared. "I don't need friends, bonds, or happiness!" He trusted that she understood herself to be excluded from the preceding list; there was no question of the fact that he needed _her_. "This Hell-like world is the ideal place the true King should rule over!"_

_Carly's face mirrored his in its demonic glee. "This is wonderful," she returned. "This is the world we truly desired."_

_Lightning crackled before them, and on a whim the Dark King grabbed his wife by the shoulders and bent down over her, kissing her with unrestrained passion. In a whisper only she could hear, he told her, "Indeed, this is all I ever desired, my beloved. My…Dark Queen."_

[--------------------]

"Jack! Jack!" Carly's voice called out distantly.

Slowly, Jack climbed back to reality, his mind unclouded by the foolishness that had so recently had control over it. That light that emanated from Carly's eyes was truly incredible, having mercilessly stripped away every weak thought and every idiotic goal that burdened him in a manner of seconds. Now he was _truly_ reborn.

"Carly…" Jack said hoarsely. "I understand now. To plunge the world into Hell is necessary if we are to be together for the rest of eternity. No pathetic humans shall encumber us, no self-righteous Crimson Dragon will try to decide what is best for us, nothing whatsoever shall _ever_ come between us, ever again. I love you, Carly Nagisa, my Dark Queen." And with that the couple was kissing once more. If their passion was still this incredible in the future that his vision had predicted, then he had a _very_ vested interest in making sure that that vision came true.

This kiss was, if anything, lengthier than the couple's first, and when it finally ceased it was only because Carly had pulled away to have her say. "I love you too, Jack. By Aslla piscu, I love you too. I loved you enough to make life and death bow at my command to bring you to me, and you don't know how…happy it makes to see you by my side again." It took all the restraint in her body to keep her from kissing him again, but she held back her impulses for now; they still had urgent business to take care of, judging by the sun's position in the sky. "I suppose you just sealed the hummingbird tower?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as level as possible.

"I'm so sorry, Carly, but I did," Jack told her, his demeanor shifting immediately from immensely pleased to immeasurably guilty. "I was such a fool so little time ago, and I'm afraid that my former self's _conscience_ wouldn't allow him to just stand by and let the end of the world take its natural course. If I could only take that back…"

"No matter," Carly interjected quickly, trying to forestall Jack from getting _too_ dejected. She had planned for this eventuality, but they needed to act quickly; her Dark Signer senses were telling her that they had less than an hour until sunset. Still, the lizard mark was shining bright in the sky some distance away, so all hope was not yet lost. "Get on my D-Wheel; we need to go help Misty-san. Her tower is the only one that still stands."

Jack nodded, impulsively pecked her on the cheek, and climbed up on Carly's D-Wheel after her. Once Carly was assured that his grip on her waist was secure, she revved the engine and shot off toward the Ccarayhua control tower. With a bit of speed and a lot of luck, they just might make it there in time.

[--------------------]

A/N: Fortunately we still haven't been assigned anything particularly grueling in my classes (only had three days of them so far, LOL), and plus I have Fridays off this semester. Those two factors enabled me to push out another decently sized chapter in basically two nights of writing. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Since I keep forgetting to do so, massive, massive, _massive_ kudos go to YouTube user PrismWeapon for his well-done and incredibly quick 5D's fansubs. If dialogue in this story comes directly from the show, then the translation that I will be using will be PrismWeapon's. If you like the original version of 5D's and don't know a lick of Japanese (like me), then I would _highly_ suggest subscribing to the dude's channel.

Meanwhile, shout-outs continue to go out to all of my loyal reviewers! I always love to hear from both new faces and from the various users who are – miraculously – sticking by me. I literally would not have taken this story past Chapter 1 if it wasn't for you guys. So kudos all around to Cap'n Sanji, Nightshade07, KaliAnn, Cobalt Rose, and of course the greatest reviewer EVAR, orangerebellion. Reading your in-depth, thorough, and exceedingly complementary reviews is very similar to the sensation one would get if heroin was injected directly into the part of the brain that processes words. :)

Now, to answer the Cap'n's questions, if you take a look at Aslla piscu's card in the real-life game, you'll see that for whatever reason the "p" is not capitalized. I couldn't tell you why, but it's certainly unusual, as the other Jibakushin with two-word names (i.e. Ccapac Apu, Chacu Challhua, etc.) all have _both_ words capitalized. Still I like the fact that this little detail differentiates the hummingbird from its fellow Earthbound Gods, as it's currently the most important one in the story, so I'm perfectly happy to go with that "special" spelling. And as for the second question, I think that the opening of this chapter makes it pretty clear: Carly is worried not about the gun but about wasting time that she could spend catching up to the fleeing Jack.

Speaking of Aslla piscu, for those who haven't figured it out yet, Carly tends to use its name as a mild oath (i.e. when someone would normally exclaim, "By God!" she would say, "By Aslla piscu!" instead). Hope this clears up any confusion (if it existed at all, LOL).

I think that about covers it for now, so keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 5: _Retribution_.

- Masterdramon


	5. Retribution

**My Dark King – Chapter 5: Retribution**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[--------------------]

All in all, this hadn't really been one of Crow's better days.

Kicking off the festivities had been that clown from Security accusing him of being a Dark Signer…okay, admittedly he _had_ done the exact same thing, and he _was_ the one who had instigated the duel, but still, the dude had been fucking creepy. And even though he had started to enjoy the duel after a while, that brief moment of excitement had been abruptly cut short by the appearance of _evil black fog of fucking doom!_

He still wasn't sure exactly what the stuff was (or how exactly he had managed to escape it just by jumping in a refrigerator), but what he did know was that Satellite had become virtually deserted by the time it let up. From what he had gathered since then, the people taken by the fog seemed to have been stuck in some sort of "mystical pantry" that those damned Jibakushin could access at any time to grab a late-night snack, and only by killing the things could the people be freed. Even the kids…all of them…

Once they took the kids, _his_ kids, the shit hit the fan for him. He had started going after the Dark Signers proactively, and as luck would have it, he had run into the recently reborn Bommer. Now, he had nothing personal against the guy, but there was no getting around the fact that Crow barely made it out of that duel alive. Still, he really felt for Bommer; the man was only pursuing Yusei and the other Signers because he had been lied to and misled, and in the end he had realized his error and sacrificed his own life for Crow's. That such an honorable person could have been manipulated and then thrown away like such trash just made Crow hate the Dark Signers even more.

From that point he had stuck with Yusei, watching him take down Kiryu and then Rudger in quick succession. His heart almost stopped when Yusei had apparently died, though; that bastard Rudger had used his last breath to blow himself up and send Crow's best friend tumbling into the seemingly bottomless chasm below. Yusei refused to tell anyone what happened down there, and though Crow had his suspicions he kept them to himself. In any event, Yusei had lived, and that was what mattered.

Of course, things had only gotten worse from there. None of them were sure what to make of the hummingbird geoglyph disappearing so suddenly from the sky, but Crow had started worrying terribly at that point. While it seemed inconceivable that Jack might actually _lose_ his duel, it was equally unlikely that a Dark Signer could go down so easily. As much as he hated each and every one of those dead fucks, he knew that they were all formidable opponents and not to be taken lightly.

So when Jack's crimson birthmark had emblazoned itself upon his own right arm, he hadn't been so much surprised as simply numb from ongoing shock. He had already had to deal with the deaths of two childhood friends that day, even though he had protested the very idea of Yusei's death to the others, and that was the straw that finally broke him. Crow almost _never_ cried, but this was one of the very few occasions upon which he relaxed that rule.

Which brought him to where he was now, awkwardly stowing an unconscious woman into an abandoned building and rapidly heading toward the center of the amusement park. Even from this far away it was impossible to miss the enormous lizard that could only be an Earthbound God, which meant just one thing: Aki was in trouble. Honestly Crow barely knew the girl, but he would _not_ lose another friend today. As much as it pained him to say so, he was a Signer now in Jack's…absence, and it was time to start acting like it.

Fortunately they didn't call him "the Bullet" for nothing, and so he was on the scene within minutes. A large glass dome obscured his vision of the duelists, but the fact that the Dark Signer currently controlled a Jibakushin was unmistakable…as was the fact that Aki's field was nearly empty. He stared at the girl curiously. Maybe it was the distorting effect of the glass, but something seemed…off about her. Her hair was askew, and her eyes seemed almost to reflect pleasure, of all things. He was spared further contemplation by a sharp laugh, and looking around for the source Crow's eyes found a man in a trench coat standing on the platform above him.

The man examined Crow for several seconds before laughing again. "My, and here I thought Yusei had _finally_ shown up to our little soiree," he stated sarcastically, his voice teeming with a laughter that contained no humor. "Who are you supposed to be?"

Crow didn't know this guy, but he was pretty sure that he didn't like him. "The name's Crow, Signer-extraordinaire and biggest bad guy ass-kicker in Japan!" he shouted, drawing himself up fully. "And who the fuck are you supposed to be?"

The man scowled. "My my, such uncouth mannerisms," he responded, dismissing Crow with a wave of his hand. "But I suppose I can't expect any more from Satellite scum."

That did it. "Hey, why don't you shut that fucking mouth of yours before I close it for you?" Crow yelled.

"Again, such language," the man returned, his tone returning to mock-geniality. "In any event, the name is Divine, leader of the Arcadia Movement and greatest psychic duelist on Earth…with the possible exception of my little Black Rose Witch here." Divine gestured widely to Aki, who seemed not to hear him.

"What did you do to her?" Crow retaliated. "Something's going on here, and I don't like it!"

"What is with this annoying tendency for Signers to want to interfere in Aki's busy life?" Divine asked airily. "I suppose it's the looks…though I wouldn't be surprised if she's been spreading her legs for the lot of you these past few weeks. It _would_ explain a few things."

Finally at this Aki looked up at Divine, her expression expectant. "Did you need something, Master Divine?" she asked demurely, and it took Crow a second to realize that she was responding only to Divine's use of her name, not to an insult that she couldn't hear. She was clearly being controlled by some sort of psychic mind trick or whatever.

"Nothing, my Black Rose Witch," Divine called down. "Simply finish off this Dark Signer nuisance once and for all and then we can resurrect Arcadia!"

"Yes sir. My turn!" Aki responded, turning back to the duel as a menacing grin spread across her face. "With _Copy Plant_'s effect, it becomes the same Level as _Dark Verdure_ until the End Phase!" As a holographic power meter demonstrated this effect, Crow began battering on the glass before him and screaming Aki's name, hoping to wake her up, but it was no use; she belonged to Divine now.

Deciding to try a new tactic, Crow turned away from Aki as she prepared her field for a Synchro Summon. There was a rusty fire escape in the front of it, and with any luck he might be able to make it up there while Divine was distracted by Aki's move. Sprinting as hard as he could, Crow ascended the steps for about five seconds before the entire structure gave way, sending him tumbling down into the iron debris. Groaning and gazing upward Crow saw Divine smirking maliciously, a Spell Card held in his hand.

"Did I mention the special power of psychic duelists?" Divine asked rhetorically. "The most talented of us can transform the effects of Duel Monsters cards into reality. This particular one is one of my favorites…_Fireball_!" The last word was shouted out as Divine gestured forward with his other hand before an enormous burst of flame shot toward Crow. The Signer desperately dove out of the way before he found himself bound and gagged, bands of light completely constricting his movements. Looking back at Divine, he saw that the bastard was holding a new Spell Card. "_Magical Bonds_," he explained. "It comes in handy."

Helpless to do anything other than stare, Crow watched as Aki held a white card high, her expression turning downright demonic. "Chilling flames engulf the whole world!" she began to chant. "Pitch-dark flower, set into bloom! Synchro Summon! Be revived, _Black Rose Dragon_!"

Crow had heard much about the third Signer Dragon, though this was the first time that he had seen it with his own eyes, and it did not disappoint. Roaring with fury, the plant-like dragon burst onto the field in a torrent of wind as Aki called out its effect. A gale with the force of a hurricane exploded forth from the dragon's petal-adorned wings, sweeping across the field and wiping out every card in its wake.

Misty seemed unperturbed, however. "And after all this time plotting your death, Izayoi…after months of meticulous planning and preparation…ultimately you simply killed yourself," the Dark Signer stated, a vicious calm upon her voice. "I activate the Trap, _Death Gazer_!"

Crow gulped. He knew this card – it would inflict 300 damage to Aki for every card that _Black Rose Dragon_ destroyed, ending the duel immediately.

Aki, however, just laughed mirthlessly. "I believe that you have our situations reversed. For you, Misty, death comes once again. Trap Card, open! _Reflect Nature_!"

No one required an explanation of the card's effect; it was obvious to all that the duel was over. A shining wall of crimson energy surrounded Aki and sent the blast from _Death Gazer_ careening back toward its owner. Misty barely had time to scream before the violet light engulfed her, burning away the rest of her Life Points. As if in slow-motion the Dark Signer fell backward, a locket breaking from around her neck and flying off toward Aki.

The Black Rose Witch caught the trinket and stared at the picture within, a picture that seemed only to renew her rage. "Your life may be gone, Dark Signer, but I am not satisfied!" she screamed. "You destroyed Arcadia…destroyed my home…destroyed Divine…I will not forgive you! _Black Rose Dragon_, direct attack!"

The dragon, kept upon the field by the lingering effects of _Shining Rebirth_, complied. Thorn-covered tentacles shot at Misty's decomposing body, gouging deep holes as the remainder of the woman began to transform into ash and fade away. Again and again the dragon struck, eliciting weaker and weaker cries of pain, until Aki held out her hand to arrest it. Her fury finally abated, Aki approached what little remained of her opponent before crushing the locket in her fist to dust.

"Finally, my proof…" Misty coughed out weakly; she was little more than a head now, so her feeble voice was unsurprising. "Izayoi, after denying it…throughout the duel, you have finally shown me…the ferocity that killed Toby. I always wondered…what kind of monster could do something…like that. Now I know. Now I…see that monster. I will…always hate you…Izayoi." And with that, the Dark Signer's life was extinguished once more.

"What melodrama!" Divine called out, laughing once more. "I really should have put this on pay-per-view! Well done, my Black Rose Witch, well done!"

As the lizard geoglyph and the mirrored dome surrounding her dissipated, Aki turned back toward the psychic, her expression returning to blank expectancy. "Thank you, Master Divine," she responded, inclining her head.

"Yes…you have done exactly as I taught you," Divine continued. "Keep your head up, never back down, and above all – show no mercy. That last display was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. A few more duels like that and the resurrection of Arcadia will be assured." Divine's gaze then fell upon Crow, who was screaming muffled abuse from behind the energy band that covered his mouth. The psychic leader frowned for a moment before his face lit up, a delicious thought having just occurred to him. "Now, Aki, as long as you have that magnificent dragon still materialized, why don't you put it to good use and exterminate this pest?"

Crow's eyes widened and his stifled shouts increased in volume as the girl answered, "Yes sir."

Nope, this certainly had _not_ been one of his better days.

[--------------------]

Misty was gone.

Carly wasn't entirely sure _how_ she knew this, but at the same time there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that it was true. Objectively speaking the disappearance of the lizard geoglyph from the sky indicated only that the duel between Misty and Aki Izayoi was over, not who had won, but a sort of damp pull in her mind had just lifted, and she vaguely connected that now-vanished feeling to Misty's presence. Now only two such pulls remained, one that she deduced was connected to the man seated behind her and one that was completely unfathomable. Whatever this extra pull was, however, it was undeniably powerful. Carly put the matter out of her mind for the moment.

It hadn't been particularly difficult to deal with the deaths of the other Dark Signers that day, focused as she was on her duel with Jack and its eventful aftermath. Besides, she wasn't overly fond of any of the male Dark Signers, though her working relationship with Kiryu had grown decent once she had managed to get past his utter insanity. But Misty…Misty was the closest thing that she had ever had to a sister. With her talent for reading people Carly had long ago figured out that she was a surrogate for Toby in Misty's subconscious, and this suited Carly just fine; anything to take away some of the distraught woman's monumental pain.

And now she was gone, returned to death by the same woman who had murdered her brother in cold blood. Carly knew very little about Aki Izayoi, but what she _had_ heard about the Witch she had overwhelmingly disliked. By her very nature Carly regarded each and every one of the Signers as mortal foes, but now there was an element of personal vendetta ingrained in her hatred of Izayoi as well. All of them would face retribution in due time, but Izayoi had just moved much closer to the top of her hit-list.

Pumping the accelerator Carly shot her D-Wheel forward at an inhuman speed, all-too-aware that the sealing of the final control tower was at best moments away.

[--------------------]

It hadn't taken more than a few seconds of running for Yusei to realize that he simply couldn't maintain that kind of pace in his current condition. He was still bleeding profusely from virtually all of his extremities, and he highly suspected that he had fractured at least one of his kneecaps. Not only was running clearly out of the question, but even walking was stretching the matter – he knew that Martha would have an apoplectic fit when she next saw him. Assuming, of course, that killing that fucking spider had been enough to bring her back…

Still the sight of yet another Earthbound God standing as clear as day in the middle of the park spurred him on, and so he pressed forward. The disappearance of the lizard halfway through his trek surprised and disturbed him, but he did not stop; he had not seen whether it had been killed by something or whether the reverse had occurred, and if his recent ordeals had taught him anything it was that he should always err on the side of caution in situations like this. Still it was a good ten minutes before a startling scene emerged before him. The first thing he noticed was Black Rose Dragon, still hovering above its mistress even though no duel was currently being fought. Yusei breathed a sigh of relief that Aki had defeated her Dark Signer opponent, but he caught that breath just as quickly when he saw her eyes. The brown irises were blank and unfocused, and the pupils appeared perpetually contracted. But there was something else in them, a hint of…cruelty that Yusei had not seen since the Fortune Cup. There was no question about it: somehow he was once again staring at the Black Rose Witch.

Even worse was looking around and seeing Crow on the ground, bound and gagged but struggling violently. Crow was not looking at him, his eyes focused on the enormous dragon floating above them and slowly stretching its thorn-covered tentacles toward him. Yusei had no idea what was going on here, but if he didn't want to lose the only other living member of Team Satisfaction then he needed to act _now_.

"Aki! Stop!" he called out as loud as his strained voice would allow him to. To his surprise, both Aki and Crow turned their heads toward him.

"Yusei…" Aki muttered, her eyes flickering in and out of focus and her body swaying slightly. Fortunately Black Rose Dragon seemed to be taking its mistress' odd fit as a signal to halt its onslaught, and it retracted the vines that were less than a meter from Crow's skull.

"Constantly have to come and spoil everything, don't you Mr. Fudo?" a smarmy voice called out from above, and Yusei looked upward to see a red-haired man in a gray trench coat. Though his hairstyle was slightly different, there was no mistaking that face, especially with Yusei's mind so focused on the Fortune Cup at the moment.

"Divine!" Yusei yelled in disbelief. "But you're…"

"Deceased?" Divine interceded, his demeanor expressing nothing if not amusement. "Indeed I would be, if it wasn't for my psychic powers and a useful little Instant Spell called _Emergency Teleport_." At this Divine pulled the card in question from his deck and held it up high before the air beside him began to shimmer hazily, and with a casual wave the psychic stepped to the side and disappeared.

Yusei stared in wonder for a few seconds before a cry of, "_Psychic Sword_!" from behind him triggered his dodging instinct, and as he dived to the side he saw Divine bring down the blade of an enormous broadsword onto the ground where Yusei had been standing seconds earlier.

"You might want to try a surprise attack that doesn't involve yelling out loud," Yusei jibed, panting visibly. It was a childish taunt, but the Signer didn't have much choice; he would have difficulty fighting a fully realized psychic duelist even at full strength, and his injuries were significantly debilitating him. He needed someone else to intervene, and quickly.

Fortunately, Aki seemed to be proceeding toward doing so. The girl's eyes were rapidly clearing up, and she was now attempting to regain her footing. The first thing that she saw once her vision returned to her was an orange-haired boy bound by psychically manifested chains, and the second thing that she saw was Yusei jumping and rolling around for dear life as Divine swung a massive sword at him with reckless abandon. This made little sense to her – hadn't she just been in the middle of dueling Misty? – but she needed to do something, and quickly. Noticing a hint of magenta out of the corner of her eye Aki looked up and saw that her Black Rose Dragon was still materialized, a fact that she was definitely going to take advantage of. She gestured wordlessly and the mighty creature seemed to understand, strong but non-lethal tentacles shooting out from its belly and wrapping themselves around Divine's limbs.

"Agh!" Divine grunted, struggling against his bonds. "It seems that you've wilted once more, my precious Black Rose. Apparently the mere presence of your boyfriend here reduces you to a defenseless little kitten. Fortunately, that problem is easily rectified. _Reawaken the rose and_…"

Yusei didn't like the tone in which Divine was saying those last few words _at all_, so he didn't allow him to finish them. Action bypassed thought as Yusei rushed forward and swung his fist straight into Divine's jaw. The collision of bone on bone resulted in a satisfying crack, and Yusei knew immediately that he had done some real damage. Divine's stare was livid, no longer reflecting any sort of amusement, as he opened his mouth and spat a large amount of blood at Yusei's feet.

"You…you bastard…" Divine choked out, more blood spewing out. "_Reawaken the_…" was as far as he got before Yusei's fist slammed into his cheek again, even harder this time. Yusei had a_ lot_ of pent-up rage directed at this man for how he had used and manipulated Aki throughout the years, and this was his opportunity to release some of it. Divine seemed to get the general message. "Fine…I'll stop trying to use the code-phrase," he acquiesced. "Just keep your disgusting hands off of me, Satellite scum." Yusei held his temper at the slur only because Aki was now shouting the questions that he himself wanted to know, and Divine was the only person around who could answer them.

"What the Hell is going on, Divine?" she cried, tiny tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "First you show up out of nowhere after I've thought you dead for _weeks_, then I black out, and then suddenly Misty is gone and you're trying to fucking kill Yusei?"

Divine laughed, quite a feat for a man who was still spilling copious amounts of blood out of his mouth with every passing second. "The short version of the story is that I survived thanks to my powers, but with Arcadia devastated by the Dark Signers I knew that revenge against them would need to precipitate any efforts to resurrect our glorious Movement. And so ultimately I tracked you down here, where you were faring pathetically against one of their forces. The part that disgusted me, however, was that your failure had nothing to do with your opponent's power or skill. Rather, it was due to _empathy_; you were falling for that creature's sob story about having killed her brother. Of course, she was entirely mistaken on that front; it was _I_ that did those honors, after all."

At this Divine inclined his head, while the Signers' eyes widened simultaneously in horror. Yusei had to restrain himself from punching the asshole yet again, but he knew that another blow to the face would likely render the psychic leader unable to share any more information for quite a while. Yusei contented himself by silently kicking the man in the leg, and though Divine winced he did not comment. "You see? That attitude is exactly my point. That boy's death, if I am indeed remembering the correct individual of course, was trivial in the extreme, barely even a footnote in the history of Arcadia's ascension. There were hundreds just like him, individuals with such low psychic potentials that our initial…tests overloaded their brains. It wasn't every day that we found someone like you, Aki. Such beings are beneath your notice. Once, you understood that. My goal today was to remind you of that fact, and to resurrect the ferocity of the Black Rose Witch once more.

"And I did so, thanks to the code-phrase that Mr. Fudo here seems rather unhappy with me using. I suppose he's just too old-fashioned; wants his wife silent and docile as she busies herself in the kitchen while he's off at work. _I_ just want to see the real you, Aki. Restrain Mr. Fudo and let me say the code-phrase, and we can rebuild Arcadia, and the world, together," Divine finished, his eyes gazing imploringly into hers. She had loved him for years, he knew that much, and though he didn't return those affections he had used them to his advantage numerous times. The poor girl was within his grasp, just as she had always been.

Yusei readied himself to kick Divine again for the things that he was suggesting, but Aki beat him to it. Her kick, however, was aimed slightly higher than Divine's leg, and the man would have doubled over in pain if his limbs weren't bound. As it was Divine just screamed, more blood spraying out of his gaping maw. Aki looked positively murderous. "Misty-san!" she screamed. "What happened to Misty-san?"

Again Divine laughed, but it was quite possibly the weakest laugh that Yusei had ever heard. "Oh yes, her," Divine choked out, his voice far more vindictive than it had been before Aki's blow. "She's dead. You killed her. Quite ferociously, I might add; it was absolutely beautiful. You speared her dying body at least twenty times with your dragon's tentacles before you let it fall, rendering her death as painful as it could have _possibly_ been. She died cursing you for something you didn't even do, and you just stood there and smiled." Divine knew, instinctively, that he was not going to survive this day, and so he resolved to get in as many digs as possible before he bit the big one. He was getting his comeuppance for his comments, though; Black Rose Dragon was tightening its grip on his limbs, drawing more blood. It seemed that the beast did not enjoy the prospect of its mistress being used as a puppet.

Suddenly an urgent thought struck Yusei, and as he stared at the horizon he saw with horror that the sunset was imminent. They had to seal the lizard tower _now_. "Aki…" he began, but he stopped when he saw her. The girl was shaking violently, the tears that had been welling up for the past several minutes now falling freely. She was in no shape to run to the control tower. "…give me Black Rose Dragon," he finished. While it seemed more appropriate that each individual Signer seal their _own_ tower, the light that had shined from the direction of the hummingbird tower less than an hour ago had proven that that was unnecessary. He supposed that Ushio and the twins must have found Red Dæmon's Dragon and used it on the seal in Jack's place, something that Yusei was exceedingly grateful for. There would be a lot of grieving to get to by the end of this day, but the tragedies that had occurred so far would be _nothing_ compared to what would happen if the King of the Underworld was released.

Aki ceased her sobbing for a moment and looked up at Yusei questioningly, but there was no time for explanations. "Please Aki, if you trust me _at all_, just do it. We _need_ to seal that tower." Aki nodded uncertainly before removing Black Rose Dragon from her Duel Disk and handing it to the young man. A large backlash of psychic energy emanated forth from the physical form of the dragon as it disappeared, and Yusei noticed in his peripheral vision that Crow's chains had been destroyed by the energy wave. Divine meanwhile had fallen to the ground in a crumpled heap, either unable or unwilling to move. Satisfied with these circumstances for the moment, Yusei began sprinting toward the control tower a short distance away. It took a few seconds of this before Yusei collapsed, swearing under his breath as he realized that he was still not in a fit state for running. Staring at Crow, a silent agreement passed between the two Signers before Yusei tossed the Synchro Monster to his friend. "Place that on the console in the tower, now!" he called to Crow, who was already tearing off at breakneck speed.

He would have been home free if it wasn't for the sudden appearance of a dull red D-Wheel. Its orange-and-black-clad driver, who was undoubtedly female despite the helmet that obscured her features, burst onto the scene at a speed that Yusei had never before observed in a Riding Duel before stopping expertly in front of the lizard control tower. She dismounted and removed her helmet, revealing a pair of empty black eyes. There was no doubt about it; this was the final Dark Signer, the one who had killed Jack.

"Shit," Yusei and Crow muttered simultaneously.

[--------------------]

It had taken quite a bit of effort to convince the proud Dark King to hide out in one of the many abandoned buildings surrounding the control tower – "like a coward," he had claimed – before she had successfully impressed upon him that revealing his new form to his former friends so callously might not be such a good idea after all. Such a revelation would represent a major tactical advantage, one that they should not sacrifice too early. She had been touched when he admitted that the reason that he wanted to be present was to ensure her safety, but she had assured him that she would be fine on her own. None of the Signers, with the possible exception of Izayoi, knew much about using their vast powers consciously, whereas she was well-trained for combat. He had laughed heartily when she had described her earlier encounter with Officer Ushio and the man's resulting injuries; she had gotten the sense that he didn't think much of the burly Security Officer. Her account had helped to assuage some of his worries, but he had still insisted on remaining in the closest possible building, "just in case." A subtle glance to her left told her that Jack was still there, lurking in the shadows anxiously.

"Hey! Let me pass!" shouted the boy standing before her. Based on Jack's description of Team Satisfaction, she assumed that this must be Crow. A fleeting look toward his arm confirmed her suspicions: this was the new Signer, the one who had replaced Jack. Carly's smile widened; a Signer chosen by destiny mere hours ago was no threat to her. This battle was over before it began.

Carly barely had time to raise her hand and begin focusing energy, however, before her Dark Signer senses indicated an imminent collision. She just managed to leap from her D-Wheel before a Security jeep crashed into it, smashing the vehicle to pieces. Landing with unnatural grace Carly gazed upon the perpetrator furiously; unsurprisingly, it was that annoying pest Ushio once more. The man was staring at her sternly, silently threatening to back up and run her over directly (as if that would actually work with her on her guard!). The moment's distraction seemed to be all that Crow needed however, as the Signer leapt over the jeep with amazing dexterity and dove through the doors of the lizard control tower. Carly swore and made to follow him but noticed the tiny Signer in the jeep raising her right arm, and so, mindful of what had happened last time, Carly wisely averted her gaze and instead swept the area. Yusei and Izayoi were both on the ground a short distance away, next to some sort of bloody lump that appeared to be slowly stirring. Ushio was shielding the children from her view as much as possible, though the girl's forearm was still pointing out resolutely as an (admittedly effective) Dark Signer deterrent. The hazy form of Jack seemed to be on the verge of going to help her, but she shook her head once and was glad to see him back off a bit. This day might have just been lost, but revealing Jack at the right time and in the right place was the kind of event that could tip the scales of the entire War.

[--------------------]

Crow wasn't entirely sure how he had just managed to accomplish _that_, but he wasn't about to complain. He vaguely connected the now-glowing wings on his forearm to the astounding leap that he had just made, and it gave him some satisfaction that at the very least Jack's legacy of power and showmanship might live on through this mark.

There was little time for reminiscence, however; he had a job to do here. The controls for this "seal," though he had never seen them before, seemed incredibly simple: a card-shaped slot rested atop a pedestal, and Yusei had thrown him a card. Admittedly it was a card that had just tried to kill him several minutes ago, but he wasn't going to think about that too much…

Crow slammed the card into the seal and immediately felt the tower begin to sink into the Earth around him. Grabbing the Synchro Monster again he bolted for the exit, hopeful that something might have actually gone right that day.

[--------------------]

This was humiliating, hiding in the shadows like a coward, and if the requestor had been _anyone_ other than Carly he would have shot them down immediately.

As it was Jack was watching their entire scheme go up in smoke before his eyes and not doing a damn thing about it. Carly had seemed well in-control of the situation until that bastard Ushio had shown up out of nowhere and trashed her D-Wheel, and now Crow was using the opportunity to seal the last tower. Now that Jack _understood_, he wished for nothing more than to rectify the massive mistake he had made in sealing his own, but if Crow activated the last control system on the old Momentum reactor then it would be sealed forever, and his error would live on in perpetuity.

But throughout the ordeal, every time that he had even thought of going to help Carly, she had shot him a pleading glance. He understood and appreciated her point about tactics, but he wasn't going to be able to sit on the sidelines much longer. Perhaps once Crow emerged they would be able to ambush the Signers, all of whom were now gathered in this small area. Losing the power of the King of the Underworld might be acceptable if every single servant of the Akaki Ryu went down on the same day.

The sinking of the control tower confirmed the loss of the day, and Jack's fists clenched as Crow emerged from the scene, his arm glowing madly. Jack squinted, surprised at how much the light hurt his eyes even from this distance, before doing a mental double-take and realizing that it was _Crow_ who currently had a glowing mark. With his eyes barely open it was difficult to make out the shape of the sign, but he was willing to bet quite a bit of money that those were the crimson wings that he had been cursed with since birth. Well, if Crow wanted the ridiculous thing, then he could have it. It seemed that a God's birthmark had been the destiny of every member of Team Satisfaction in the fullness of time.

The glow soon faded to a dim twinkling, and it appeared that Carly was now in top form. The moment that Crow had brought down his arm Carly had begun to shoot narrow beams of dark energy at every living man, woman, and child in the vicinity, and most were hitting their marks. Watching her "work," Jack was struck by how incredibly beautiful she was when she moved. No, that wasn't right; as a _human_, Carly was beautiful. As his Dark Queen, she was downright gorgeous…and sexy as Hell to boot. How it had taken him so long to figure that out he could no longer fathom.

Still, the young woman was rapidly being surrounded. One against six was not an easy fight to win, regardless of one's own ability, especially when four of those six were Signers. Jack stiffened when Ushio rushed Carly and managed to place her in a headlock. She could break out easily, of course, but Crow seemed eager to take advantage of the situation. The manic gleam in Crow's eye was one that Jack had almost never seen before; only when the subject of his mentor Pearson's murder was broached did Crow ever look so vindictive. Jack was on the verge of ignoring Carly's commandment and interceding when Ushio and Crow both suddenly fell to the floor, lying flat on their backs and struggling as if fighting some invisible downward force. Indeed, this seemed to be happening to every living human in the area. Staring at the place where Yusei and Izayoi were now sprawled helplessly, Jack noticed that the bloody lump of clothes had unfurled itself into a red-haired man in a trench coat whom Jack did not know.

Carly appeared to know him, however, though her sneer indicated that he was not among her favorite people in the world. "I thought that you were dead," she told him, sounding disappointed. "And I did such a good job of killing you too. Ah well, water under the bridge, I suppose. I assume that you brought these fools down with your pathetically weak psychic powers?" A note of derision was evident in this question, as if Carly found it laughable that anything that a psychic duelist wielded could ever be referred to as "power."

The red-haired man had to pause to spit out a mouthful of blood before responding, "Yes, a simple _Gravity Bind_ did the trick well enough. I'm curious as to why you were not affected, however."

"The effects that you manifest are only useful against living mortals," Carly replied simply. "The dead are immune, Divine."

A sharp pang went through Jack's mind when he heard this name, and he did not have to think long to recognize why. The memory was still fresh, having occurred within the last hour of his former life. She had told him, in response to his questions about her status as a Dark Signer…

"_I infiltrated the Arcadia Movement and was killed by Divine."_

This was him. Her murderer. Rage that had sweltered just beneath the surface for the last few hours suddenly exploded, and Jack found himself dangerously close to foaming at the mouth. It was taking all the restraint that he still had to keep himself from leaping out and tearing the man limb from limb…literally. So incensed was the Dark King that it took several moments for him to notice that the object of his hatred was speaking.

"That makes sense," he stated in a business-like tone, but with an odd smirk that did not put Jack at ease. "I suppose that it would be like trying to use _Gravity Bind_ to stop monsters in the Graveyard from attacking. But come to think of it, the Graveyard just might be the answer after all." Divine paused to fish another card out of his pocket. He held up the Spell Card for easy viewing, and even from Jack's position it was impossible to mistake that ankh. "_Raise Dead_," Divine continued. "I believe that its effect on the recently deceased would be obvious from the name. But on an undead creature like you, who knows? Perhaps it will do nothing, perhaps it will revive you good as new, or perhaps it will destroy you utterly. Shall we find out?"

That was the last fucking straw. It was one thing to show yourself to your victim after killing them, but to attempt to kill them once more after they had received the gift of new life, especially in such a gruesome manner? This man would never harm another hair on Carly's beautiful head. He would _die_.

Jack let his rage take control as he burst from his hiding place and rushed like a bull toward Divine. A monumental blow to the arm that held _Raise Dead_ did more than injure it; it tore it clean off. Divine howled in agony and Jack relished in the sound; vengeance, not food, was the nourishment on which Dark Signers fed. Jack continued to pound the psychic, each physical strike magnified by a factor of at least ten in his current state. Jack had never seen quite so much blood, but he did not care, even though it was heavily staining his white jumpsuit, mixing with the stains of his own. Again and again Divine screamed as bits and pieces of his body were eviscerated or dismembered by sheer force of impact. Finally Jack had had enough of such trivial punishments; he did not want to allow the man to die from some less-painful wound before the Dark King bestowed upon him his final reward. Palming the man's strangely soft head Jack lifted him high in the air and whispered, "Never…mess…with…my…Queen," before reeling back and sending a single, enormous punch straight into Divine's stomach and out the other end.

Divine's fall was spectacularly unspectacular, the psychic duelist attempting to mouth his last words as enough blood to fill a small animal sprayed out of his mouth and out of the gaping hole in his abdomen. Sound appeared to have deserted him, however, and his mutilated corpse collapsed at Jack's feet. The Dark King turned around and observed the scene around him.

With Divine dead, the _Gravity Bind_ trap had lifted, and the Signers and their allies were now pulling themselves up, identical stares of shock evident on each of their faces. Carly, on the other hand, seemed to be restraining herself from running up and kissing him. He wasn't sure how attractive he could possibly look, covered head-to-toe in the blood of a mass-murderer, but that was one of the great things about Carly: she could always see the good in the people she loved, no matter the circumstances.

Jarring Jack from this pleasurable line of thinking was a murmured whisper from Yusei. "Jack…" was all that the Signer could verbalize. Jack noticed that his former friend was looking more severely injured than Divine had been before Jack had gotten to him, and in (quite literally) another life he might have comforted the young man, albeit in an aloof and Jack-Atlas-like manner. But those days were gone, and as long as the element of surprise was lost the Dark King supposed that the best thing to do was press the element of shock. Clearing his throat, Jack noticed with ironic satisfaction that the sun had finally set.

"No, Yusei, your eyes do not deceive you," he announced to the group at large. "My crimson mark is gone; a violet one in the shape of a hummingbird rests in its place. My eyes are an empty black. My skin is cold, my blood runs in reverse, and I have no need to eat or drink or breathe. I am the High Ruler of Hell, Dark King, and I am here to take my rightful place as the ruler of this world…a world that I shall henceforth plunge into the deepest depths of damnation. So gather your forces and send the Akaki Ryu after me if you wish, but it shall do you no good. With my Dark Queen, Carly Nagisa, by my side, I shall obliterate you all from the very fabric of existence. I leave you now with these thoughts, knowing that the day will come soon enough that we will face each other on the field of battle once more. Until then, prepare, and enjoy your Last Days."

Not bothering to gauge the reaction that his speech had incurred, Jack strode over to Carly, who answered his silent plea for a quick escape from the scene by stating quietly, "I'm going to try a trick that I picked up from Rudger. I've never done it before, but the theory seems simple enough." Carly was biting her lip slightly, a sign that she was nervous, but Jack placed a hand on her shoulder and gave en encouraging smile, and that was enough. With a massive burst of energy Carly established a short-term localized geoglyph that transported the pair away, deep into the heart of Satellite, where the old Momentum reactor had once spun with wild abandon.

[--------------------]

A/N: Man, getting this chapter up was a bitch, though I'm fairly pleased with the end result. Classes are starting up again in earnest and I came down with a little something on Wednesday, but a couple consecutive good nights' sleeps (a rarity for me) seemed to do the trick. Over two-thirds of this one was written in one night, once I finally had a good deal of unobstructed writing time, and indeed it has actually been finished since late Friday night. The additional delay was thanks to the servers inexplicably deciding to fuck with me yesterday.

I'm going to try to get out at least one chapter per week, but I'm not making any promises. Updates will usually be on Friday or Saturday, depending on whether I can finish the revising/editing in time. For obvious reasons, I'll probably have to break off this pattern come midterms/finals weeks. But generally, one-chapter-per-week is my goal.

Divine's fun to write, but I'm very glad to be rid of him now. Torturing and then killing him in this chapter was one of the scenes that I have been especially looking forward to since the beginning of the fic. After all, he (a) killed my favorite character in the show and (b) is the abuser in an abusive relationship, both of which are liable to piss me off.

Once again, shout-outs go out to all of my wonderful reviewers. Chapter 4's response really pleased me, as my most loyal readers continued to comment faithfully and I picked up a few more as well. And of course, a special shout-out must (as always) go to She-Who-Reviews-Super-Special-Awesomely, AKA orangerebellion. Please, _please_ don't stop with those incredible reviews; I estimate that receiving them makes me write at least 470% faster. ;)

Keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 6: _Reactions_.

- Masterdramon


	6. Reactions

**My Dark King – Chapter 6: Reactions**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[--------------------]

The two hummingbird Dark Signers touched down on the ground next to the Dark Signers' headquarters in a massive burst of purple flame. As the miniature geoglyph that marked their arrival point faded from view, Carly fell to her knees, panting. "Guess that little trick…took more out of me…than I thought," she gasped.

Jack looked down at his Dark Queen concernedly for a few moments before bending down and taking her into his arms. "Let's get you inside, then," he told her soothingly. "I presume that this is our base of operations?"

Before Carly could do anything more than nod, however, both of their birthmarks burned with searing pain. An ethereal voice filled the night sky as the dim outline of Aslla piscu appeared through the darkness, its shadowy body slowly taking form. "You have brought Me something that I cannot accept, My avatars – failure," it declared in booming tones. "How do you explain yourselves?"

Carly gave a small, apologetic smile to Jack before lowering herself out of his arms and staring up at the form of their God. This was going to be a long conversation.

[--------------------]

Rex Goodwin very rarely showed his temper in public; he was, after all, a politician, and leaders who lacked emotional discipline did not tend to last very long. As Mikage and Jaeger were painfully aware, however, the story was entirely different in private.

Currently Neo Domino City's Director was storming about the sacred temple of the Star Guardians searching fervently for something to throw. Ultimately he was forced to content himself with seizing fistfuls of his silver hair and wrenching them violently from his scalp, swearing liberally as he did so. After a few minutes of this Rex slumped against a stone wall, sighing as he gazed forlornly at the capsule containing his brother's arm.

For all of his careful plotting and clever manipulation of fate, Rex had never stopped to consider that he might not succeed at this crucial juncture. Rudger had been certain that the Signers would never be able to seal the King of the Underworld in time, and all of Rex's plans had hinged on the accuracy of that claim. With the King at his beck and call, the entirety of the realms of life and death would lie at his feet, but without it…he was nothing. True, he had control over one God (and possibly one-fifth of another, if his plan held out), but that was nowhere near enough for him now. He had been so close…_so close_…to having it all, and that intoxicating prospect only fed his appetite even further.

Suddenly an incredible pain seized the Director's back, causing him to double over in shock. In desperation Rex tore at his clothes, wrenching away his coat and shirt until the enormous mark upon his back was exposed to the open air. Unnatural darkness flowed from the violet condor until it took form, and the small chamber was soon filled by the outline of Wiraqocha Rasca, the mightiest of the Jibakushin.

"Your petty whining bores Me, mortal," the ancient condor announced sonorously, its tone resonating with contempt. "I did not restore you to life so that you could waste your time moping around like an infant. All is not yet lost."

"It…it isn't?" Rex asked lamely, his eyes wide at the sight of his God. Apart from the time when a vision of the feathered beast had resurrected him back in Satellite, he had never actually seen the Jibakushin, and it was certainly a sight to behold.

"While it is true that the King of the Underworld has been sealed from _this_ side of death, the barriers still remain vulnerable from the other side," Wiraqocha Rasca explained. "If the Signers had not succeeded in raising a seal on the Momentum reactor that gave Us an opening into this realm, then the sacrifice of a single living person would have sufficed to bring forth the King and place Him under your control. As it is, you will merely need to sacrifice a _dead_ person instead. Doing so will wrench apart the doors to the Underworld from the inside and allow the King to dominate the Earth once more."

"You mean…" Rex began.

"Yes," Wiraqocha Rasca interjected. "Sacrifice another Dark Signer; it is the only way. Besides you, two of them still remain."

At this Rex became confused. If the towers had indeed all been sealed, then how could there possibly be any other Dark Signers left? As if reading his mind (and given that their souls were bound, that prospect seemed fairly likely), the condor added, "Search your deepest senses. Although you are fairly new to controlling your vast powers, you should at least be able to feel the _presence_ of your fellow emissaries of the dead by this point."

Rex did so, and after a few seconds he realized what the God meant. Some sort of…pull was tugging at the corner of his mind, representing two significant powers. Somehow, two of the Dark Signers had evaded the fates of the others, and though Rex was at a loss as to how he no longer cared. Wiraqocha Rasca's idea was so sublimely simple and yet so _perfect_; the end of one man chosen by the Gods would usher in the ascendance of another, the ultimate deity who would possess the powers of both light _and_ darkness. Bringing himself up to his full height Rex began to laugh with manic glee, his black eyes wide with renewed purpose.

Wiraqocha Rasca observed the man's insane display with disdain before flowing back into his birthmark. With any luck, the foolhardy idea that the God had planted with the audacious mortal would be enough to end his renewed life and allow the condor to flow into another, more worthy host. The man who presumed to control two Gods would soon find himself with neither, at which point the greatest of the Jibakushin would be free to find an avatar whose strength matched Its own.

If It were capable of doing so, Wiraqocha Rasca would have smiled.

[--------------------]

Yusei wanted little more than to remain where he lay for the next few hours or so, but he knew that taking such a course would currently be impossible. He was, for all intents and purposes, the de-facto leader of the Signers and their allies, and so the duty fell to him to assume control of the situation in times like this. Gazing around, it was certainly apparent that no one else was volunteering a plan of action.

Breathing heavily, Yusei stood up with difficulty and turned to his friends. Immediately the entire group turned their heads up to him expectantly, a gesture that Yusei found gratifying. "All right, if there are no objections then we're gonna be heading back to Martha's now," he announced in a hollow tone; for all that he was trying to mask his emotions right now, his voice was blatantly betraying him. "Is everyone here right now?"

"I found whatshername, that blue-haired woman, in a cage back on the western side of the fairgrounds," Crow answered. "I got her out but she fainted, so I had to leave her in that building over by the merry-go-round." Crow jerked his thumb backward to indicate the general direction.

Ushio's eyes widened. "Mikage-san!" he cried as he immediately tore off in the direction that Crow had pointed. A few minutes later the Security Officer returned with Mikage Sagiri's limp form held delicately in his arms, and with utmost care he lowered her into the backseat of his jeep. "Can you kids keep an eye on her?" Ushio asked, and the twins nodded simultaneously. "I figure that it's probably a good idea to keep as close together as possible, so you two should stay in the back with Mikage-san and Aki-san can ride in the front with me."

Yusei nodded his approval. "Good thinking, Ushio," he stated before offering a hand to Aki, who was still sitting on the ground in a crouched position. The girl took it uncertainly and allowed herself to be led to Ushio's jeep, where she sat down without a word. "Crow and I will flank you with our D-Wheels," Yusei continued, glancing sideways to the newest Signer, who nodded as well. "Let's go."

All things considered, the journey to Martha's orphanage was almost unbelievably quiet. No one seemed to want to speak a word about what they had all just witnessed, and the only event of note to occur during their travels was Mikage's awakening. Even then, however, the groggy woman had been immediately coaxed back to sleep through peaceful encouragement from Ushio and Ruka. They all silently agreed that it was probably best for her not to deal with recent events right now.

Yusei wasn't sure what to expect once he dismounted his D-Wheel and rapped firmly on the door to the orphanage. Even if Martha, Rally, and the others _had_ been freed with Uru's death, he had no idea where they might have ended up, nor any guarantee that they would have been able to make it home in time. As such, it was to the Signer's profound relief that the matron who had raised him since infancy pulled open the door and stepped out onto the threshold. Martha scanned her young charge for a moment before holding her hands up to her mouth and gasping audibly. "Yusei, what in the world happened to you?" she cried.

Yusei sighed. Typical Martha; no matter the circumstance, show her an injured young person and all other thoughts would be driven from her mind instantly. "I'm fine, Martha," Yusei answered before clutching his side in pain. "Well, fine enough for now," he amended. "As far as you can tell, is everybody else back now?"

Martha appeared to be quite resistant to putting aside the subject of Yusei's injuries, but ultimately she demurred. "Mostly, Yusei," she replied, looking downcast. "All of my kids are back, but when we were walking back here we passed through the Tokage and Tori districts, and both of those seem to still be deserted."

Yusei thought that over for a moment. "I'm pretty sure that I saw the souls from the lizard God head off toward Tokage," he said, trying to visualize the direction that the purple energy had flown after Black Rose Dragon had wiped out Ccarayhua. "I guess the people from Tori, and probably some from Neo Domino as well, are still stuck inside the hummingbird." Yusei's voice had lowered to a dim murmur, and he was evidently merely thinking aloud at this point. Shaking his head a bit, Yusei returned to the business at hand. "That's…mostly…good news. In any event, we're all going to need rooms, and probably some food too if you've got any lying around."

Martha picked up on Yusei's distinctly serious tone and did not bother to argue. "I'm still working on dinner; it should be ready in about an hour. In the meantime you all should come in and lie down, _especially_ you, Yusei," she stated pointedly, and following her example Yusei did not argue either. The group entered the building (Ushio still carrying Mikage as if she was a fairytale princess) and allowed themselves to be led off to a set of spare rooms on the second floor. Taking care to personally ensure that everyone had space (only Rua and Ruka were forced to share a room, and they were fairly used to that anyway), Yusei retired to his own chambers before collapsing. Martha assured him that Dr. Schmitt would be there later that night to fix him up, but Yusei barely heard her, succumbing almost immediately to slumber.

[--------------------]

Explaining herself was never Carly's strong suit; explaining herself to an ancient God of wrath and vengeance was even less so. Still she had experience dealing with Aslla piscu's temper, and she was putting it to good use. The hummingbird detested excuses and blame-shifting, but it tended to afford her at least grudging respect when she was frank and took responsibility, even if it didn't like what she was saying. As such Carly framed her words with the utmost care.

"You are correct, my God," she began. "Collectively, we Dark Signers have failed to secure the control towers that we had sworn to defend; I will not attempt to deny this. Ultimately however I am solely accountable for the loss of Ccarayhua's tower; I made severe tactical errors both in underestimating the newest Signer and in forcibly removing Jack from the battle. For these transgressions you may punish me as you see fit." Carly prostrated herself before the hummingbird, her posture stiff and resigned.

Jack did not like what he was hearing. "This is in no way your fault, Carly!" he yelled. Carly shot him a sharp warning glance, but the Dark King pressed on. "Your tactics were more than sound in that battle; the sealing of the final control tower is Crow's fault and no one else's. If anyone here should be blamed, it should be me. I sealed the hummingbird tower, after all." Jack stared down at the ground as he declared this, shame washing over him. He was still working to fix that idiotic mistake, and he would _not_ let Carly take the fall for it.

Upon hearing this, however, Aslla piscu erupted in fury. "What?" the God cried as a birdlike screech tore through the air. "I bestow upon you the gift of rebirth, and you repay Me with treachery? Then I shall rescind that gift!"

Before either Dark Signer could protest, the orange contours across the hummingbird's form glowed fiercely, and for the first time in hours Jack felt the desperate need to draw breath. But without working lungs he had no means to do so, and so within a few moments he was thrashing around in agony, his mouth frantically but futilely attempting to feed his once-again-dying body with the air around him. His vision blurring, he attempted to catch a final glimpse of Carly's beautiful face, so that it might be his last sight.

Carly, however, had prostrated herself once more, pleading desperately with the hummingbird Jibakushin. "Please reconsider, Aslla piscu!" she screamed at the top of her voice. "_Please!_"

"And why should I?" the Earthbound God boomed. "You vouch for his usefulness to Our cause, and yet the only the thing that he has managed to accomplish since his rebirth has crippled Us! Losing this worthless former Signer should provide a potent lesson about knowing your place, My host!"

Jack's eyes continued to seek out those of his love, the voice of the hummingbird fading to a dull ringing as his hearing deserted him. Everything disappeared from his view as he completely asphyxiated, and the last thing he saw was Carly turning toward him with a look of pure despair in her eyes. Satisfied that he had gazed upon her one last time, Jack once more yielded to death.

[--------------------]

_Darkness in its purest form surrounded Yusei Fudo, forcing him to rely on touch rather than sight to direct his course. Deeper and deeper into this strange abyss he descended, until three muscular arms pulled him back into the world of light. Looking around, Yusei was pleasantly shocked to see Jack, Crow, and Kiryu, all alive, and all smiling at him._

"_C'mon, Yusei," Kiryu cried jovially, clapping Yusei on the back. "You don't want to miss us take down the Sakana gang, do ya? It'll be Team Satisfaction's finest moment yet!" Jack and Crow nodded their agreement and flashed him thumbs up._

_Yusei followed suit, his happiness at being reunited with his greatest friends driving any other thoughts out of his mind. "I never thought that I'd see all of us together again like this!" he declared with a laugh._

"_What is he going on about?" Jack muttered, though he was still smiling._

"_Probably fell off his bike and landed on his head one too many times," Crow responded teasingly. Kiryu laughed that monumental laugh of his, and the rest of Team Satisfaction broke down with him. This intoxicating sense of camaraderie was almost more than Yusei could bear, and it was in that moment, when Yusei lowered his guard completely, that it happened._

_Enormous black hands reached up from within the Earth and took hold of Kiryu and Jack before pulling them under. They struggled for only a moment before identical expressions of passivity spread across their faces, and with a flash of dark energy both of his friends were gone._

"_Kiryu! Jack!" Yusei screamed. "Where are you?"_

"_Over here," rang an audibly insane voice from the other direction, and Yusei turned to witness in horror as twin graves marked "Kyosuke Kiryu" and "Atlas Jack" split open and his now clearly deceased friends clawed their way out of the ground, dirt and grime matting their corpses. "Time to kill me, Yusei!" Kiryu continued, laughing madly. "It's your destiny!"_

_Yusei felt an unfamiliar weight in his hands as a shotgun materialized out of nowhere, and his expression of shock turned to terror as his arms moved of their accord, cocking and aiming the barrel at the former Team Satisfaction leader. "No!" was all Yusei could cry out before his pointer finger depressed the trigger, and Kiryu's head burst into a bloody pulp, his body moving forward several more steps before collapsing a meter from Yusei's feet._

"_My turn, then," Jack stated with a lopsided smirk, staggering toward Yusei at a quickened pace. Again his arms began to move against his will, this time pointing the gun directly at his best friend's heart. Yusei struggled violently to reassert control of his muscles and ligaments, but it was no use; Jack reached for Yusei's face just as the bullet burst through the former King's chest. Jack gasped once before collapsing to his knees, his dirt-coated fingers trailing down Yusei's front as he fell._

_Finally Yusei found himself in control of his body again, and he recoiled in shock and disgust as the shotgun clattered to the ground. Backing away frantically, Yusei felt a sharp pain in the small of his back, and turning around he saw Crow wielding a bloody knife and smiling nastily. His face appeared monstrously distorted._

"_It was fate, Yusei," Crow whispered in a menacing voice quite unlike his normal one. "When you joined Team Satisfaction, you marked the men you would eventually betray and kill. No surprise that we're simply striking back."_

"_I didn't mean for any of this!" Yusei protested. "I would never betray any of you!"_

_Crow's face seemed to shift form, until Kiryu's distinct features rested upon it instead. "Oh really, Yusei?" he asked mockingly. "Like you didn't betray me to Security?"_

"_I was trying to turn _myself_ in, Kiryu!" Yusei cried._

"_And that worked out _real_ well, didn't it?" Kiryu retorted. "Even then, did you ever visit me as I rotted to nothing in that prison cell?" Yusei seemed stunned by this fresh barb, his eyes wide. That seemed to be exactly what Kiryu had expected. "You see? Once I was arrested, you were free to forget about me. You went on with your life with your other friends and never spared little old Kiryu Kyosuke another thought. And so you _did_ betray me, if not in words than in thoughts!"_

"_I…I did try, once," Yusei said meekly, but it was apparent that he was doubting himself. "They…told me that you weren't allowed visitors."_

"_Bullshit, Yusei!" Kiryu roared. "You managed to get into Neo Domino without permission, stole your D-Wheel from right under Security's nose, and fought your way to the top of the Fortune Cup with nothing but your deck, wits, and will…and you're telling me that it took just one Security Officer saying 'no' to stop you from seeing me? Then you _didn't_ try, and you _did_ betray me!"_

_Yusei had no response to this, which seemed to satisfy Kiryu's apparition. Crow's face shifted shape once again before becoming a semblance of Jack's, pure loathing etched in every line. "And I bet you're going to claim that you didn't betray _me_, either?" he spat out. "You knew that the Dark Signers were deadly, knew that they had already taken one of your friends, but did you come to help me? No, you left me alone, to die like a fucking dog!"_

_Yusei fell to his knees at this, his legs far too shaky to support his weight any longer. "I thought you could handle them!" he sobbed, tears spilling out of his eyes. "You were the strongest, the greatest of us!"_

"_Oh, I see," Jack replied sardonically. "So it was _confidence_ in my abilities that caused you to abandon me to the Jibakushin's mercy…don't give me that crap. You failed me, Yusei. Failed me when it mattered the most!"_

_Yusei could do nothing more than continue to cry as Jack's face disappeared and the face of the man he had killed just over an hour beforehand replaced it. Divine looked positively joyous at the sight of Yusei's breakdown, and he pounced on the opportunity to aggravate it. "Failing your friends seems to be what you're best at, Mr. Fudo," he taunted. "Or do you need me to remind you that you allowed Aki to kill again just because you didn't get to her in time? What kind of person lets down their so-called friends like that?"_

_The changes became more rapid-fire now, as family, friends, and enemies alike continued to accuse Yusei of failing them, and the worst part of it was that Yusei couldn't disagree with any of their charges. His father had named him "Yusei" in the hope that he would grow up to unite others in unbreakable bonds, but the Signer saw now that every bond that he had formed over the years had grown poisonous and weak._

_Finally Crow's face stopped shifting, instead settling on its most grotesque form yet. The face appeared to be a sick amalgamation of Rudger and Rex Goodwin's, and when it spoke its voice resembled both of theirs blended together. "Failure is your legacy, Yusei Fudo," it declared, its arms spread wide. "First your father failed to stop Zero Reverse, and now you have failed to stop its ultimate result: the End of All Things!"_

_Suddenly, inexplicably, Yusei found himself on the streets of Satellite as an enormous creature resembling a dragon made of slime ravaged Neo Domino City. "No!" he screamed, but the behemoth carried on with its rampage of devastation. Raising one massive limb, it brought it down upon what Yusei recognized to be the new Momentum reactor, and with a colossal burst of energy ten times the power of Zero Reverse, the world around him was rent apart._

_Lost to despair, Yusei collapsed to the ground completely. As the Earth beneath him rumbled uncontrollably, he shouted to the heavens, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

[--------------------]

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Yusei called out.

"Yusei, wake up!" Martha shouted, continuing to shake the distraught young man. Finally his eyes burst open as he let out an involuntary cry of anguish. Martha slowly helped him up and rubbed his back, concern evident in every corner of her face. "It was only a dream, Yusei," she soothed. "Only a dream…"

It took a few moments of this for Yusei to calm down enough to speak. "Thanks, Martha," he muttered. "Is dinner ready?"

Martha nodded and led him out of the room by his hand. The Signer did not bother to protest as she took him to the dining room and sat him at the head of the wooden table. Evidently he was the last person to appear for the meal, so the assembled group took that as a signal to begin eating in silence. It was understood by all that this was not a time for pleasant small talk, and by the time the food was cleared away the only words uttered had been each guest thanking Martha for the meal as they excused themselves one by one. Yusei wasn't even entirely sure _what_ he was eating – some sort of lumpy stew – but it tasted good and it gave him something to do with his hands, so he was grateful for it.

Finally only he and Crow were left, but as he got up to return to his room the orange-haired teenager grabbed his elbow. "We need to talk, Yusei," he stated firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Meet me around the back of the house in a couple minutes."

Numbly Yusei exited through the door in the kitchen and leaned against a piece of playground equipment, half of him wanting to hear what his friend had to say and the other half wishing desperately to simply go to sleep and never wake up.

[--------------------]

Strange. This didn't _feel_ like dying.

Given that Jack was one of the few people on Earth to have passed away and lived to tell the tale, he was certain now that whatever he was experiencing was _not_ death. Indeed his vision seemed to be focusing now, not dimming, and in a few seconds he saw Carly's petit face once more, a relieved smile spread across her entire face. She embraced him tightly as he held his head and winced, the circumstances of his fleeting second demise returning to him. "What happened?" he breathed out.

"Aslla piscu reprieved you at the last moment," she answered, not letting go of him. "I don't know why. It's just been hovering there for the past five minutes or so, ignoring us completely." Indeed the hummingbird's form appeared utterly motionless, its attention turned to something that neither Dark Signer could see.

Several moments more passed in silence before a most unusual sound filled the skies around them. Although its beak remained closed, it was unmistakable; Aslla piscu was _laughing_. Jack could do nothing but stare at this strange sight, wondering what in the world could elicit such a reaction from a God.

Finally the Jibakushin ceased its display of mirth and turned its attention to its avatars. "It seems that the War is not yet lost after all, My hosts," it declared. "I have just felt the emergence of the final Jibakushin, the condor Wiraqocha Rasca, somewhere within the physical realm. And what I sensed of Its conversation with Its avatar illuminated the situation quite interestingly."

"How so, my Lord?" Carly asked softly. It seemed that the hummingbird's fury had abated for now, but she didn't want to take any chances in reigniting it. That brief scare with Jack was still fresh in her mind, and it was all she could do to keep from breaking down into tears at the thought of losing him again…

"It appears that the seal on the doorway between Earth and the Underworld can still be opened, but only through the sacrifice of a person who is already deceased…a Dark Signer, in other words." Carly's hands immediately shot to her mouth and she gasped audibly; had Aslla piscu only saved Jack in order to sacrifice him in the end after all? Forestalling the question, the Jibakushin added, "Do not worry; at this point I shall kill your precious Jack only as a last resort. I reprieved him earlier because I intend for him to battle the avatar of Wiraqocha Rasca, in the hope that by defeating him the ritual to welcome the King of the Underworld unto the Earth plane shall be completed. And even if you lose, My second host, the ritual shall _still_ be fulfilled through your death. I sense your thoughts through our connection, _Dark King_; you feel incredible guilt over sealing My tower. Consider this a chance to redeem yourself."

This made sense to Jack, though Carly still looked alarmed. "Who is this new Dark Signer, then?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"It is the brother of Uru's host," Aslla piscu answered dismissively. "A man in the city known as Rex Goodwin."

Jack wasn't sure whether or not to be surprised by this news. Except for Mikage, he had been around Goodwin more than any other human being throughout most of his years in Neo Domino, and if there was one trait that Jack would define his old "mentor" by it was the man's craving for power. Once he had informed Jack of its significance he couldn't help but notice when Goodwin stared at his birthmark with unmistakable envy. These glances were fleeting and infrequent, but they were enough to demonstrate to Jack just how much the Director secretly desired a mark of his own. If another Jibakushin had suddenly appeared and gone looking for a host, Goodwin certainly seemed like a likely candidate for the position.

Carly bit her lip at the contemplative look on Jack's face before remembering something. "Hey…Goodwin must have been the presence that I felt earlier!" she cried out in shock, and when she focused her mind once more she indeed sensed the Director somewhere in the heart of Neo Domino City. This brought up another question that had been biting at her for the past few hours. "Aslla piscu, lately my powers have seemed…stronger, somehow. Especially mentally. I can sense the presence of other Dark Signers now, and when I dreamt after you revived Jack I could hear Misty's thoughts as well as my own. Do you know what might be causing this…m-my Lord?" she added quickly.

Aslla piscu regarded its emissaries impassively for a few moments before speaking. "The boundless power of the Underworld is divided amongst each of the Jibakushin, and consequently amongst each of Their Dark Signers. With the destruction of Cusillu, Chacu Challhua, Ccapac Apu, Uru, and Ccarayhua this day, all of the power that They had previously held has flowed into the condor and Myself, strengthening the amount of energy that We can send along to you as a result. If you succeed in crushing this 'Rex Goodwin' then you should feel an even greater increase in your available abilities."

That solved _that_ particular question, but it did not put Carly at ease. Aslla piscu appeared, at best, unconcerned with the prospect of Jack falling against Goodwin; it evidently made no difference to the God _which_ Dark Signer was sacrificed, so long as the King of the Underworld was revived. She jumped slightly when Jack placed his hand on her shoulder. "I need to do this, Carly," he told her firmly. "My honor is at stake, and I must regain it at any cost. Do not worry; I shall have Goodwin's head by sunrise," he added with a smile.

The Dark Signers' birthmarks began to glow once more as Aslla piscu's outline started to fade. "I leave you with one final thought, My avatars," it said as its energy flowed back into its hosts. "If you can defeat Wiraqocha Rasca's host without destroying the condor Itself, then It will be free to select a new one." And with that, the hummingbird dispersed completely.

"What did that mean, Carly?" Jack asked. That parting statement had been exceedingly cryptic, but he had a feeling, based on his Dark Queen's expression, that she had understood its significance.

"Your resurrection, Jack," she began, swallowing hard, "it's…well…it's only temporary." She tried to ignore the dumbfounded look on his face, with little success. "Aslla piscu said that it could only bring you back for a week. Probably less now, since it nearly killed you and then brought you back again. I guess…I guess that it meant that the condor might choose you and tether you to life permanently if you were to overpower its original host. It makes some sense, I suppose." Carly bit her lip for what seemed like the thousandth time in the past hour, digging deep enough that she was sure that she would have reached blood had she still been alive.

Jack let out a sigh of relief. "So that just gives me another incentive to crush Goodwin, then," he stated with reinvigorated purpose, clenching his fist in anticipation. "It was always going to come down to him and me; I realize that now. But first I need a new D-Wheel…and a new deck as well. The only card that I have left of my old one elicits nothing but contempt from me now."

Jack snorted with disgust as he pulled out Red Dæmon's Dragon, steeling himself against the pain so that he merely winced as it attempted to burn his deceased flesh. With a devilish smirk he grasped the card in both hands and with a sharp motion, ripped it in two. The crimson aura surrounding the Second Dragon faded into nothing. As he moved to toss the worthless pieces into the wind, however, Carly held his arm back.

"I think that I have a better idea," Carly said, an equally sinister grin spreading across her face as well. "We can take care of the D-Wheel and deck situations at headquarters, but as for that card…well, I think that it's time to call on a tip from our old friend Demak."

[--------------------]

Mikage Sagiri was staring at the dark horizon from a deck adjacent to her room in Martha's orphanage, unaware that Officer Tetsu Ushio was observing her silently from the window to her immediate right.

What Ushio-san had told her when she had pestered him for answers before dinner couldn't _possibly_ be true. Admittedly she had never known the morally straight Security Officer to lie about, well, anything, but her mind still refused to acknowledge even the remotest possibility of _her_ precious Atlas-sama doing the kind of things that Ushio had described. She had fainted straightaway upon learning of the King's demise, for even _that_ was too much to bear. Atlas-sama was invincible, untouchable, undefeatable…no random Dark Signer could _ever_ stand a chance against his awesome might…and yet the fact remained that it had evidently been some amount of time since the hummingbird geoglyph had disappeared from the sky, and Atlas-sama was nowhere to be found among them.

But even if the evidence of Atlas-sama's death was hard to deny, it seemed preposterous to suggest that he had become a Dark Signer as a result of it. The King was a hero, a savior, a modern-day Heracles or Adonis; he was _not_ a monster like their enemies, and nothing could ever change that. _Nothing_.

…But something had. Something about the way that Ushio-san had informed her of the events that had passed while she was unconscious had absolutely assured her of his honesty. No matter how much she didn't _want_ it to be true, the incontrovertible fact was that is _was_. Her Atlas-sama was an enemy now, and although she continued to watch the eastern horizon in the hope that the sunrise that was still at least ten hours away might bring a better reality, she knew that such hopes were ultimately futile.

Mikage began sobbing softly into her hands, a sight that unsettled Ushio greatly. He hated seeing women cry, _particularly_ his Mikage-san. Tightening his grip on the windowsill, Ushio's hatred of Jack Atlas exploded a hundredfold.

Perhaps it would be a different story if the object of Mikage's affections in any way deserved her. Ushio could never picture himself becoming bosom friends with a rival for Mikage-san's heart, but he would at least have the decency to step aside if a person worthy of her love (not that there were very men in the world who fit that description, so far as Ushio was concerned) successfully won her. But _Jack_? The man had been an arrogant ass even before the events that had occurred today, a short-sighted fool too blind to realize that he had attained with no effort something that Ushio would climb mountains for: Mikage-san's heart. But now…he had seen the blond teenager literally _tear a man to pieces_ with absolutely no remorse, and while Ushio could not deny that that bastard Divine had it coming to him that was simply not an action that the Security Officer could _ever_ condone. Plus, Jack had been cavorting with that mysterious woman who had nearly killed Rua and Ruka, and _they_ most certainly didn't deserve that.

So how could Mikage-san continue to grieve for him? Ushio supposed that the old adage was true…love could be blind.

That didn't make him hate Jack Atlas any less, however.

[--------------------]

The Dark Signers' headquarters was surprisingly sparse. Jack supposed that he shouldn't have been too shocked – nothing about the arcane organization seemed to even remotely suggest high technology – but still, it was somewhat difficult to comprehend world domination being plotted in what appeared to be nothing more than a creepy old mansion.

Jack's opinion changed significantly when Carly led him with a smile to the Dark Signers' card repository. Mouth falling open, Jack observed a room the size of a cathedral packed wall-to-wall with what seemed to be every single Duel Monsters card ever printed, and a few hundred others that Jack guessed must have been created by the Dark Signers themselves, given that they had certainly never been released to the public. As Goodwin's stooge Jack had always had access to a good deal of cards directly from the manufacturers, but this one room put to shame every factory in Japan and America _combined_.

"Like it?" Carly asked with a smile. Not bothering to wait for an answer, she continued, "I'm going to the garage to get to work on new D-Wheels for the both of us. You assemble a new deck and then meet me there."

Carly made to turn away, but Jack held her back by the shoulder. "What do you mean, 'the both of us'?" he asked concernedly.

"I may not be dueling Goodwin personally, but I want…no, I _need_ to be there. I've already almost lost you twice today, and I'm _not_ going to let it happen again," she told him firmly, and Jack knew that it would be worthless to argue with her. Besides, this was the thing that he really loved about her: unlike most of the weak-willed plastic dolls that he usually met at Neo Domino high society gatherings, Carly was always willing to tell him where to get off when he needed it. Impulsively, Jack closed the already limited space between their faces and kissed her lightly. This seemed to put both of them more at ease, and without another word Carly waved goodbye and headed off for the garage on the west side of the complex.

Turning his attention back to the virtual cornucopia of cards now at his fingertips, Jack paused to consider for the first time what kind of deck he was going to build. His first instinct was simply to recreate his original one, and indeed he was already reaching for a _Mad Dæmon_ that he had noticed on the shelf to his immediate right before he stopped himself. He was no longer the same man who had wielded those cards in life, so why should his deck remain the same? After all, his former self had been weak, so it followed that his cards would be weak as well. And weakness was one thing that the Dark King would absolutely _not_ accept.

As such Jack began walking down the lengthy aisles of monsters, Spells, and Traps, occasionally stopping to take a look at an unfamiliar card and/or add it to his growing collection. They seemed to be organized roughly by release date as far as he could tell, and he had to inwardly congratulate Demak and Rudger for leaving him such a massive assortment of weapons from which to choose.

Finally a set of related cards dated about a year and a half previously caught his eye, and he began to examine them. He recognized the theme as one that Industrial Illusions (as of ten years ago a subsidiary of KaibaCorp, and therefore under Goodwin's direction) had introduced a while back to much critical acclaim, though Jack had never given them too much thought. Still the cards seemed to be speaking to him now, full of a meaning that he only just now understood. Smiling with sadistic glee the Dark King began to assemble a deck from the cards before him, a deck that would finally equal his own power.

For the next few moments the enormous hall was filled with triumphant laughter that was heard by no one.

[--------------------]

"Ruka?" Rua asked his sister from across the dark bedroom. "Are you awake?"

Ruka took a moment before answering simply, "Yes." Most of their party had long since grown past the age where Martha could order them around, but as soon as they had finished dinner the dark-haired matron had ushered the two ten-year olds to bed. Just because the lights were out, however, didn't mean that the twins were sleepy; having gotten used to living without any adult supervision for months at a time, the pair had informally set a bedtime for themselves far later than "just after dinner." Rua in particular would often stay up until four or five in the morning watching monster movies and eating junk food, much to his sister's chagrin. "What is it, Rua?" she asked finally.

"I was just wondering…" the boy began uncertainly, with no trace of his usual hyperactive energy, "what you thought about all of this. Y'know, with Jack and…everything."

This was not an easy question, and the little girl rolled over to the other side of her mattress as she contemplated how to answer it. Taking a deep breath, she replied, "I don't know, Rua. I…well, I always thought of us Signers and our friends as one big family. I never really got to know Jack much, but it's really hard to think of him as an enemy now. Even harder to think of him doing…" Ruka's eyes filled with tiny tears as she remembered the horrible sight of Jack dismembering Divine, and she found herself unable to complete her sentence. Having nothing else to say, she returned, "What about you?"

Rua was silent for a beat before answering, "I don't really know either. I mean, I used to _idolize_ the guy. Still did at the Fortune Cup, even though I was rooting for Yusei in the end. But now…I dunno. Maybe he's just been brainwashed or something. Like in the movies."

Ruka sighed. Trust Rua to make a movie analogy at a time like this. "But even if that's true, we're still going to have to stop him, won't we?" she responded, her throat still exceedingly dry. "Maybe even…"

"Don't even think about that!" Rua interjected. It wasn't often that he acted the part of the responsible brother – he readily admitted that much – but right now his sister needed for him to make everything alright, even if it really wasn't. Silently the green-haired boy got out of bed and strode across the room that they were sharing before locking his sister in a tight embrace. Tears started to fall freely from her eyes, but he did not care, concerning himself solely with being a pillar of support for his sister.

[--------------------]

Considering that Carly had grown up in the country and only ever held jobs in the field of printed media, it surprised her just how much she had grown to enjoy mechanical work. The simple intricacies of gears and motors appealed to something deep inside her, a desire to get down and dirty with her hands and feet that she couldn't recall ever feeling as a living human. She _liked_ the feeling however, so she chalked it up as just another one of the many improvements that her death and subsequent rebirth had wrought upon her personality.

Absently she began humming along to the English-language song that she had set playing on a loop on the stereo. She didn't understand a single word of the lyrics beyond the occasional "yes" or "no" or a few other basic words, but the tune appealed to her and so she liked to have it on while she worked. The CD had been Kiryu's, but on the one occasion that she could recall asking about it he had dismissed her by saying that it was by a group from Britain and that if she questioned his musical tastes again he would slice her throat open. Living with Kiryu required that one get well-used to "playful" threats like that.

Footsteps echoed in the adjacent hall as Jack emerged into the garage, muttering softly, "_I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore, I want them to turn black…_"

Carly turned around in shock, her surprise at hearing his flawless pronunciation momentarily driving any other thoughts from her mind. "You know English?" she blurted out.

Jack smiled indulgently at her expression of astonishment. "Yeah, sort of," he replied. "I'm not fluent or anything, but I can carry on a simple conversation."

"When did you learn?" Carly asked.

"Martha made all of the children in her orphanage learn a lot of stuff, English included," Jack responded disinterestedly. "I didn't have much else to do as a kid, so I poured myself into it. I probably got farther in my lessons than half the rest of the orphanage combined…Crow for instance knows only about ten words of English, and half of them can't be used in polite company."

"How did you come to be at that orphanage, anyway?" Carly found herself inquiring, part of her wondering why this topic had never come up before. "What happened to your parents?"

Jack sighed, his expression turning somewhat solemn. "They died. In the earthquakes that followed Zero Reverse."

"I'm…I'm sorry," Carly responded, her eyes turned downward. "I didn't mean to bring it up that way."

"No, it's fine," Jack said dismissively. "I'm pretty well over it by now. Anyway, I happened to be away from home at the time, in a low-lying area that suffered minimal damage as half the city split off to form Satellite. I only learned of my parents' fates after the fact, when Martha found me while she was picking up street kids in the aftermath and offering them a home. I didn't have any better options, so I took her up on it."

"I see…" Carly replied uncertainly. "Since you told me your story, I guess it's only fair that I tell you mine." Jack's attention immediately became rapt and undivided. "My dad died of cancer when I was fourteen. I was always kind of a daddy's girl, so that was pretty difficult. My mom's still back on the farm."

"You lived on a farm?" Jack asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, I grew up there," Carly answered. "It's pretty boring there most of the time, honestly. That's why I wanted to go into the city, to make a new life. My mom wasn't all that happy with that; I haven't communicated with her in months. Well, I guess if she wasn't pleased with my career in journalism, she's _really_ going to disprove of _this_ career path." Her attempt at humor fell flat, so she changed the subject. "Anyway, did you make a new deck?"

"Yes," Jack replied. "I can't wait to see Goodwin's face when I use it to end him." Looking around at what Carly had gotten up to during the half-hour or so that he had used to construct the deck now affixed to his belt, he was surprised to see that the two D-Wheels that she had been working on were both nearly finished. "Did you do all of this just now?"

Carly shrugged modestly. "It was nothing, really," she answered. "I made my original D-Wheel by myself too, after Kiryu showed me the basics. I guess I've got something of a knack for it."

"More than a knack," Jack rejoined, running his hand over the smooth steel of his own D-Wheel. "This is _brilliant_. But it looks like…"

"Yeah," Carly cut in, "the Wheel of Fortune. Even if your deck's going to be different, it just seems…I dunno, _wrong_ somehow, for you not to have it. I'm thinking of a different paintjob, though. Mine is going to be black with orange highlights this time, so I was thinking that yours might be black too. Y'know, to match," she added tentatively.

"Sure, Carly," Jack said with a smile. "I'll call it…hmm…" he paused for a moment in contemplation, "how about the Wheel of Death? A bit melodramatic, I know, but it fits well enough."

"It sounds good to me," Carly replied, nodding. "I think that I'll make the seat violet."

"Violet?" Jack asked, surprised. "How did you come up with that?"

Carly's pale skin would have flushed slightly if her face had still contained enough blood to do so. "From the colors of the rainbow," she told him, looking somewhat embarrassed at the allusion. "Uru's red, Aslla piscu's orange, Cusillu's yellow, Ccarayhua's green, Ccapac Apu's blue, and Chacu Challhua's indigo, so logically the condor has to be violet. Plus, purple is the color of royalty, so that way the seat will look sort of like…"

"A throne," Jack finished with a wry smirk. "Very well, let's finish up then. Is there anything that I can do?"

Cary returned to her position on the ground, smiling back at him. "Well, you can start by handing me that wrench," she answered. Chuckling slightly he did so, before returning to singing the lyrics of the Rolling Stones song playing in the background under his breath…

"_If I look hard enough into the setting sun, my love will laugh with me before the morning comes…_"

[--------------------]

Was Aki a terrible person because Jack wasn't anywhere near the first thing on her mind right now?

No, she amended mentally; she was a terrible person for a laundry list of other reasons. Chief among them being that she had _killed_ someone. Again.

Dominating Aki Izayoi's thoughts were the faces of two people who had died that day: Misty…and Divine. Thinking of Divine was painfully complicated, so she was focusing solely on Misty. At least with Misty, she only had to deal with two major emotions: grief, and guilt. Not that those were exactly easy emotions to center her attentions upon, but at least they were fairly straightforward…compared to the emotions that surrounded Divine's image, anyway.

It was one thing for her to know abstractedly that during her Black Rose Witch rampages there _might_ have been _some_ casualties. It was quite another for her to black out and find herself an hour later with blood on her hands. Figurative blood, it was true, but with no less severity than the physical variety. The visions that Misty's _Sad Story_ cards had shown her had revealed two people whose lives were torn apart by the Arcadia Movement's agenda, and so although Misty _had_ attempted to kill her she honestly couldn't begrudge the Dark Signer for it. According to Divine Aki might not have been _personally_ responsible for Toby's death, but that didn't absolve her of the guilt she felt over it, especially since she _was_ completely responsible for the death of his sister.

Divine. No matter how much she tried to avoid thinking of the red-haired psychic, her thought process continued to return to him, for no matter how much of a bastard she knew that he was, no matter how many people he had manipulated or tortured or even killed, she still mourned his passing. He was her first friend, the first man to ever give her hope that she might be something more than a monster. And the first man that she had ever loved.

It disgusted her now to admit it, but she did indeed love him. She loved him blindly, willing to put aside her own freedom and will and let him direct her wherever he pleased. In retrospect she acknowledged that Divine had taken advantage of that relationship at every turn, and had probably never really reciprocated her feelings, but the sheer warmth of being held, both physically and emotionally, had seemed to make it worth it. After all, no one had ever provided her with that kind of soothing comfort, so it was only natural that she latch on so completely to the first man to offer it, even if his "love" had only been an act.

Until now. There was a man who provided her with exactly that kind of relief just down the hall, except that for him it was unconditional. She wasn't sure yet whether or not she could call it love, but she certainly felt _something_ for Yusei Fudo.

Yusei possessed every trait that had attracted her to Divine and quite a bit more. But for Aki, it wasn't his handsome features or street-smart intelligence that made him such an incredible man (though he certainly had both, in spades); it was the fact that he had gone so far out of his way to help her out of a situation that she now realized was quite akin to an abusive relationship, without any clear benefit on his part. Someone performing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return had been a foreign concept to her before she had met Yusei at the Fortune Cup, and it had more or less shattered her worldview. All things considered, Yusei Fudo had been the greatest thing to ever happen to her, and she couldn't deny now that she wanted him.

But of course, that just gave her another reason to despair. Once again Aki had proven herself to be the monster that her father had declared her to be when she was a young girl, and outside of fairy tales no one fell in love with monsters. It might not be all that difficult to imagine Yusei as a knight in shining armor, but life was _not_ a fairy tale. Ultimately, her destiny was to be alone.

Aki pulled a pillow over her face, a pillow that was soaking wet with tears a few minutes later.

[--------------------]

Carly and Jack had saved this portion of the preparations for the duel with Goodwin for last, mostly because Jack was somewhat doubtful that it was actually going to work. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

Carly flashed a smile before answering, "Of course. Besides, even if it doesn't, what could it hurt? You were just going to throw away the pieces of your dragon, anyway."

Jack couldn't really argue with this logic, so he followed in silence as Carly led him to the deepest part of the Dark Signers' headquarters, an enormous cylindrical room with a thin bridge spanning a seemingly bottomless chasm. Carly had generally described the old Momentum reactor on the way, but no description could have prepared him for _this_ sight. Pure energy was ebbing and flowing freely below him, occasionally snaking up the walls through web-like strands that had attached themselves to the metal surfaces like vines to a tree trunk. Everywhere he looked he saw all the colors of the visual spectrum shimmering brightly, and yet at the same time he saw none of them. Remembering what Carly had informed him of the Hikari no Yami, the light-that-was-darkness, Jack thought that he understood, and he smirked widely at the concept.

Without another word Jack approached the center of the bridge and removed the two halves of Red Dæmon's Dragon from his pocket. Then, with a flourish, he tossed the pieces directly into the darkness masquerading as light below him.

The reaction was instantaneous from the moment that the cardboard touched the surface of the Momentum energy. An enormous pillar of the strange "light" burst forth as the King of the Underworld responded earnestly to the offering of one of his greatest enemies. The two Dark Signers stared in awe as bursts of deep purple light shot forth from the pillar, striking the walls of the chamber and gouging deep holes in the steel. Jack thought he could see the shadow of his former servant scream in silent terror as pure darkness surrounded the card that represented its physical form, until suddenly…it all stopped.

The pillar, the tendrils of light, and the shadow of Red Dæmon's Dragon all faded from sight within an instant, leaving only a solid black piece of cardboard that floated slowly into Jack's waiting palm. The Dark King was overcome with manic glee as he observed the new form that his greatest creature had taken, one worthy of being wielded by the High Ruler of Hell. Everything, from the jet-black border to the photonegative Level stars to the vastly improved effect pleased him, but what Jack admired most were the picture and the name. No more was the dragon a deep crimson, a hue that Jack was now more-or-less hard-wired to despise, but rather a sharp, royal purple, exactly the shade that Jack now wished to associate with himself. And its new title reflected this change. The Dark King lost himself for a moment as he began to laugh maniacally at the name now printed across the top of his newly acquired Dark Synchro Monster, the name that would bring him victory against Goodwin, against the Signers, and against anyone else who would ever dare to stand in his way.

_Amethyst Archdæmon's Dragon_.

[--------------------]

A/N: Whew! Now _that_ chapter took awhile! I'm sorry for the week's delay in getting this chapter to you all, but I was just too damn busy last weekend to really get much writing done. Hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for it!

This was by _far_ the longest chapter that I've written so far for this story, which wasn't really planned; it just took much longer to get through these scenes (particularly Yusei's dream sequence, which was a late addition) than I had originally anticipated. Indeed, I found myself needing to move two significant scenes to the beginning of _next_ chapter, which I hope to get out to you guys a bit more quickly (again, no promises however).

Speaking of next chapter, I hope that you're all looking forward to it, the first big climax of this story. It will be my first time writing a full duel, which can come out looking disastrous if done wrong, so I hope that I've earned your collective confidence by now!

And now, it's time for that fan-favorite feature, the reviewer shout-outs! Many thanks to Nightshade07, KaliAnn, Cobalt Rose, Zaconator and Zackis, Xoroth, I LOVE JACK ATLAS, Cap'n Sanji, and of course the _incomparable_ orangerebellion for your kind words and careful critiques. When your praise is so warm that it makes me feel guilty for not updating for just _two weeks_, you know that you guys are doing something right. ;)

Keep on reading and reviewing, and stay on the edge of your seats for the dramatic Season 2 finale, Chapter 7: _Reckoning_.

- Masterdramon


	7. Reckoning

**My Dark King – Chapter 7: Reckoning**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[--------------------]

Jack really had to commend Carly for her engineering skills. Within an hour of work she had completed two fully functioning D-Wheels with his minimal assistance, and as he engaged the ignition on his first test run he could honestly say that he had never felt so good on a motorcycle. The Wheel of Death handled better than the Wheel of Fortune all across the board – better speed, better control, even better comfort. Looping around the empty wasteland that surrounded the Dark Signers' headquarters he began itching in anticipation for the impending duel with Goodwin. As far as he was concerned, with his new D-Wheel, deck, and ace card, his victory was assured.

Tremendously satisfied with the run, Jack brought the Wheel of Death to a grinding halt back at the headquarters entrance, where Carly was absentmindedly polishing her own D-Wheel. Beyond the new color scheme it was virtually identical to her former one, but that suited Jack just fine; something about the way that her smooth curves seemed to meld with the sleek vehicle was just so utterly _perfect_ that he was loath to suggest even the slightest change.

Carly seemed agitated as he dismounted and made his way over to her, a fact which she made evident by dropping the rag that she had been shining her D-Wheel with in shock. Jack hadn't seen Carly drop _anything_ since her rebirth, so it wasn't difficult for him to deduce that something was bothering her. "What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

Carly avoided his gaze as she answered, "I know it's silly, but…well, today could be the last day that I see you…"

"Stop it right there," Jack interjected, his tone gentle but forceful. "I told you, didn't I? I'm never going to let _anything_ come between us again, and that includes that long-haired bastard Goodwin. Now just forget all that crap and kiss me…for good luck, you know," he added with just the shadow of a smile.

"I'm pretty sure that 'good luck' is hazardous to the dead, you know," she quipped playfully, but she answered his request just the same. Jack could still sense her anxiety from the amount of passion that she was pouring into his mouth – she was even using tongue this time – but he hoped that seeing him deal Goodwin a sound thrashing would soon put her mind at ease. Finally their lips parted and Carly prepared to teleport them both via a miniature geoglyph again. Taking care to place his hands firmly on both of the D-Wheels so that they would be taken along for the ride, Jack stole a single glance at his Dark Queen's now-resolute features before an enormous burst of violet light sent them hurtling into the heart of Neo Domino City.

[--------------------]

It was only a couple more minutes before Crow emerged into the yard, staring at Yusei appraisingly. Wordlessly he leaned up against the wooden fence beside his friend and breathed a deep sigh. A few moments passed in utter silence before Yusei finally asked, "So, what's up?" Crow noted inwardly that his friend's voice had lost much of its hoarseness after his short bouts of food and rest, but there was still an…emptiness within it that Crow did not like hearing.

"You know very well what's up, Yusei," Crow said, sighing again as he placed his hand on the other Signer's shoulder. "I need to talk about what happened back at that park, but more importantly, _you_ need to talk about what happened back at that park. You're acting like a broken man."

"Crow, I'm not…" Yusei began, but Crow held up his other hand to stop him.

"Don't try to deny it, Yusei," the orange-haired teenager interjected. "With the exception of Martha, no one here has known you as long as I have. They might not be noticing how you've been acting, or perhaps they've all just been too busy grieving privately to pay any attention, but I have and I'm doing something about it. So talk to me."

Yusei hesitated for a moment before explaining the nightmare that he had just experienced. Crow's eyes widened as the description of his friend's dream grew steadily more graphic, culminating in the literal destruction of the world. "And the worst thing is, they were right…all of them. I thought that I was making a difference as leader of the Signers, but I guess I was mistaken. Every single bond that I've ever forged has withered and rotted to nothing; every single person I've ever met, I've failed," Yusei finished, his voice hollow and weak.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Yusei!" Crow exclaimed. "You've never let _me_ down! Not even once!"

"I left you here in Satellite," Yusei rejoined, avoiding his friend's gaze. "It was pure luck that you avoided getting absorbed by a Jibakushin. And Bommer nearly killed you."

"Well, I didn't and _he_ didn't!" Crow shouted exasperatedly. "You did everything you could, and I'm perfectly fine!"

"Maybe, for now," Yusei muttered, still staring resolutely at the ground. "But what about next time? Or the time after that? I failed Kiryu and Jack and lost them both forever because of it. I…can't help shaking the feeling that it's going to happen to you too, sooner or later. The dream-you said it was destiny."

"Well then he was full of crap! Goddammit Yusei, I'm fucking sick of this!" Crow screamed before cocking back his fist and bringing it sharply into Yusei's stomach.

The already-injured young man doubled over, clutching his gut. "What the Hell was that for?"

Crow's expression softened and he sighed again. "Look, since Jack's…indisposed right now, I figured that _someone_ had to do it. You weren't listening to reason, so I'm hoping that that punch might have woken you up a bit.

"Anyway, listen to me," he continued. "You have every right to be grieving over what happened to Jack. I sure as Hell am; the tearstains all across my bedroom floor can prove it." Yusei's attention perked up at this divulgement, for Crow _never_ wanted people to know when he was crying. His admission of this was clearly an attempt to reinforce trust, and Yusei took it as such. "But…you shouldn't be allowing it to take over your life like this. You've failed _no one_, and blaming yourself for everything that's happened isn't going to make the situation any better. Aki, the twins, Martha…they need your support now more than ever, and that means reaching out to them, not just sitting around and moping."

Most people would have called Crow's speech, at best, clichéd, but for Yusei it struck just the right chord. Perhaps it was simply the contrast; this Crow, the comforting one, sounded just like the friend who had stuck with him through thick and thin all of his life, whereas the dream-Crow had been some strange amalgamation of every one of his fears and anxieties. To hear words like this coming from the genuine article was incredibly soothing to his ravaged confidence, and so without another sorrowful word Yusei nodded curtly and raised his hand to waist level. Finally smiling once more, Crow took it and shook, their unbreakable bond of friendship renewed and strengthened.

[--------------------]

They were coming.

Rex Goodwin could not see them distinctly from this distance, but two figures that seemed to blend in perfectly with the night air around them were rapidly approaching the temple of the Star Guardians on D-Wheels, and while his eyes could not identify them his mark could. For whatever reason the two other remaining Dark Signers were coming to _him_, but the Director cared not why. His ascendance was within moments of fulfillment.

Rex drummed his fingers upon the glass canister that he held hidden at his side, his mind laden with anticipation. Leaning up against the stone pillar that he had converted into a dueling platform, he scrutinized his quarry carefully as they stopped dead at the foot of the pyramid. Unsurprisingly their D-Wheels were pitch-black, as was the robe of one of the figures, but the other's appearance was far more intriguing. Though Rex still couldn't quite make out his face, his white jacket stood out starkly against the darkness surrounding his form, a white jacket that appeared stained crimson from nearly every angle. The pale riding suit reminded Rex inexorably of a certain duelist that the Director knew _very_ well…but no, it _couldn't_ be…

And yet, it was. There was no mistaking it – the man that was now climbing the temple stairs was none other than the former King of Riding Duels, Jack Atlas himself.

Few things in this world still retained the capability to shock Rex Goodwin, but this was one of them. Now that he could see Jack properly, he noticed with astonishment that his former protégé's eyes were an empty black, and that a purple birthmark glowed upon his right arm. Rex couldn't quite tell exactly _which_ Jibakushin had marked the former Signer, but the basic point remained the same regardless – somehow, someway, Jack Atlas had become a Dark Signer. This was…interesting, to say the least.

"And so, the prodigal son returns," Rex opened unctuously as Jack reached the top of the steps.

"Shove it, Goodwin," Jack answered impatiently. "You and I both know exactly why I'm here."

"Quite," Rex replied with a smirk. "Let us dispose of the pleasantries, then. Destiny has decreed that our powers clash tonight, a climactic battle that shall herald the End of All Things. And out of the ashes of the old world's devastation, a new world will rise – _my_ world. So let us begin: mankind's final reckoning."

Jack was about to utter a scathing retort before a blunt object struck him in the midsection without warning. Flying off the edge of the pyramid, Jack stared at the cylinder that Goodwin had apparently produced from nowhere. The glass container was filled to the brim with formaldehyde, within which a broad arm floated, a sign of the Akaki Ryu glowing eerily upon it. Jack barely had time to register his shock at seeing the final Signer mark displayed in such a way before be struck the ground with a sickening crack.

The fracture did not hurt, of course – Dark Signers felt pain only when their Gods wished them to – but unless Aslla piscu was willing to step in right then and there it wasn't going to heal either. Reflecting with irony on the idea that he had once more broken his right arm (given the results of his last injury in that part of his body), Jack stared back up at the Director, who was laughing insanely. Far more than the fracture, this laugh deeply unnerved the Dark King; he was used to a cool, collected Goodwin who got what he wanted through subtle manipulation, not this rabid maniac.

"I have waited years for this, Jack!" Rex shouted through his fit of hysteria as he began to unseal the glass cylinder. "Every miserable day I spent, watching you ignorantly take for granted the incredible power that fate had bestowed upon you from birth! Well no more! Know that on this day, I seize control of more power than you could ever possibly comprehend! You may have been a King, Jack, but I…I am God!"

And with that Rex grasped his left forearm and wrenched it violently from the rest of his body, throwing the mechanical prosthetic away in an explosion of sparks. Wasting no time, Rex reached into the emerald liquid in the canister and pulled out the Signer-marked arm before placing it firmly upon his stump. A split-second later a massive burst of violet-shaded energy shot forth from the Director's back, as the condor reasserted control of Rex's body and now, therefore, the arm. Jack stared in amazement as Rex Goodwin's muscles bulged, his hair grew several feet, and the ritual tattoos connected to his birthmark spread across his bare torso, until finally the man screamed in triumph as he raised his brother's arm, demonstrating his domination of it.

"It is mine now, Jack!" Rex cried. "My brother's birthright…command over the powers of both light and darkness…I have taken it by force! Now, let the end of the world…begin!" And with that, the dual-Signer turned his back toward his opponent and let the power within his condor birthmark surge, as a massive geoglyph formed around the temple. Jack found himself thrown backward to the tail of the enormous bird, while out of the corner of his eye he saw Carly and her D-Wheel sent flying in the opposite direction, the walls of violet flame separating them. Though she was too far away to speak to he thought he felt a sense of…comfort in the back of his mind that he vaguely connected to his Dark Queen, and he realized with a jolt that he was experiencing the same quasi-psychic abilities that Carly had mentioned to the hummingbird earlier. Jack tried to send back a similar warmth, as if to say that he was fine and not to worry, but he wasn't sure if it worked. In any event, he currently had other matters to attend to.

Heading toward the Wheel of Death that had landed a short distance away, Jack started the engine as an enormous image of Goodwin's upper body appeared above the pyramid. Jack tested his arm; it seemed fine enough to perform the basic actions of dueling, though the Dark King wasn't entirely sure that it would stand up to more advanced riding techniques. Filing that information away for later, Jack seated himself upon his violet throne and began revving the ignition. Staring at each other intently, both men shouted the same phrase simultaneously, a phrase that both understood to mark the beginning of the end.

"Duel!"

[--------------------]

Lewis Schmitt had never exactly had what most would call a "normal" life, but the last few weeks had certainly taken the cake.

As the only practicing physician in the entirety of Satellite, he had his hands full more-or-less twenty-four hours a day, but though several well-connected relations had offered to remove him from the slums on more than one occasion he had refused each time. He had become a doctor in order to help other people, not himself, and at the very least he knew that here he was always useful. So what if his patients often couldn't pay him with anything more than their goodwill, and so what if he was lucky to have his office robbed only once a month? He was doing a public service for people that needed him, and that was all that mattered.

Still, Dr. Schmitt had to admit that ever since Martha had called him in to remove shrapnel from Yusei Fudo's abdomen, the situation in Satellite had deteriorated to the point where he almost _did_ want the Hell out of there. Crow's explanation of how Yusei had incurred the life-threatening injury had been _insane_, the kind of ridiculous story that you only saw in a Miyazaki film or something. Duels that inflicted real damage to the body? Lunatic former friends rising from the dead to exact lethal vengeance? And a thirty-story tall giant with the power to kill a man merely by lowering its hand? This sort of stuff just _didn't happen_.

Of course, the doctor had been forced to revise this opinion after a thick black fog had crept into his clinic and absorbed him into a matter-less void. He had no idea how long he had spent in that state of utter nothingness (time appeared to be a nonexistent concept in that dimension), surrounded by countless other souls but strangely unable to interact with any of them, before an overwhelming force had pulled him into the real world to help form the physical body of a spider God. From that point onward Dr. Schmitt had at least been aware of what was going on around him, not that that had been much comfort when the monster he was trapped within was only released during violent attempts on Yusei's life. The destruction of the spider by Yusei's Stardust Dragon and his subsequent freedom had resulted in quite possibly the greatest feeling imaginable, a stirring sense that he could once more perceive normal time and space in a way that he would never again take for granted.

That hadn't been the end of it, of course. While most of Satellite's residents had been freed from their living prisons they were universally starving and exhausted, the evil Gods having absorbed nearly all of their bodily energies to sustain themselves. Given that the captured had included children, the elderly, and various other at-risk groups, this had meant a whole lot of unpaid work on his part. He wouldn't have minded at all, except that they weren't the only ones who desperately needed to rest. In a night where he should have been grabbing at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, he hadn't yet managed any. His own health had improved somewhat over the past couple of hours, once all of his patients-by-default had either returned home or fallen asleep on makeshift cots in his clinic and he had been allowed some respite in the privacy of his office, but that didn't stop him from looking like Death when he arrived at Martha's orphanage to answer her request to do some work on Yusei again. If it were _anyone_ else then Dr. Schmitt might have actually considered refusing to help a person in need for the first time in his life, but he owed Yusei…probably more than the boy would ever know.

Martha's reaction had been beyond predictable. "Lewis, you look terrible! You should be lying down!" she had cried, clearly forgetting that _she_ was the one who had called _him_. He couldn't really feel resentful, however; he knew that this was merely her way of expressing concern. Besides, he really was in poor shape – his skin was sallow, his eyes drooping, his posture unbalanced. Frankly, he just wasn't as young as he used to be.

"I'll be fine, Martha," he answered, trying to avoid sounding dismissive. "Nothing that a good night's sleep won't cure. Or a good year's sleep, at most." He attempted to chuckle, but found it difficult. His throat was quite sore. "Anyway, where's Yusei? You said that it was fairly urgent."

Martha nodded somberly. "There's not a single part of his body that's uncovered by lacerations," she explained. "He's got what looks like glass debris imbedded in some of the deeper cuts, and he's got a fractured kneecap. Riding his motorcycle here seems to have exasperated that injury pretty badly. His condition has improved after a nap and a meal, but he's about as hurt as anyone can be while retaining their basic mobility. He's currently out in the backyard, if you want to take a look at him."

"I'll do that, Martha," Dr. Schmitt said before wincing and clenching his left side. "Just a few of the aches and pains of old age," he equivocated, avoiding Martha's stare as he shuffled through to the back of the orphanage. He could feel her eyes on the back of his head, but he ignored them. He would fix Yusei right up and then he would finally get some sleep. Come to think of it, he could probably just request a nightcap here. A soft, warm bed _would_ be preferable to the chair in his office…

Opening the door, he saw that Yusei was precisely as Martha had described, and the doctor wondered inwardly how in the world someone like that could even remain standing. If nothing else, one had to at least commend the boy on his sheer stamina. Yusei was shaking hands with Crow, a hollow grimness but also a slight glimmer of hope evident on both the teenagers' faces. Suddenly Crow glanced his way and nudged Yusei, alerting him to Dr. Schmitt's presence. The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but no words reached his lips. Instead, the pain in his chest spiked, and he fell.

He thought that he heard a distant voice screaming something – male or female, young or old, he had no idea – but Lewis Schmitt did not care. He had provided help to others this day, and to a doctor that was all that really mattered. He only wished that he had held on long enough to have been able to help Yusei, too…

[--------------------]

As the two Dark Signers activated their _Speed World_ Field Spells and drew their opening hands, the apparition of Rex Goodwin smiled maliciously. "I shall permit you to open the path to Armageddon, Jack," he declared magnanimously, gesturing toward the Dark King with the arm marked with the head of the Crimson Dragon. Jack merely nodded as he took his first draw.

Jack paused for a moment to admire the impressive starting line-up that his new deck had provided him before commencing his move. "By discarding a DARK monster with a Level of 5 or higher, I can Special Summon _Dark Grepher_ from my hand!" he shouted as a dark-tinted swordsman with a sadistic smile came forth upon the battlefield. The demonic warrior's blood-red eyes glowed dangerously as Jack activated its effect. "Now, I can discard one DARK monster from my hand to send another one from my deck to the Graveyard as well!"

"What is the point of all this?" Rex asked sardonically, a mocking smile playing upon his lips.

Jack ignored him. "Next, I place two cards face-down," he stated simply. "Turn end."

Rex drew his first card with a wide flourish before announcing, "My turn! If there are no monsters on my field and they only exist on my opponent's field, I Special Summon _Priest of the Sun_! And next, I Summon the Tuner Monster _Red Ant Ascatora_!" What appeared to be some representation of an ancient Incan priest emerged onto the field, joined shortly by an oversized fire ant. Normally such monsters wouldn't even merit a second glance from the Dark King, especially given their low ATK scores, but the mention of the term "Tuner Monster" was placing Jack into a decided state of unease. Never before had Jack heard of a Dark Signer using a regular Synchro Monster, but then he hadn't before heard of them forcibly attaching marks of the Akaki Ryu to their arms, either.

In any event, Jack didn't have long to wait. "I'm tuning my Level 5 _Priest of the Sun_ and my Level 3 _Red Ant Ascatora_!" Rex called out, before beginning to chant. "When the sun arises, all darkness is dispelled! Light, shine brightly! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, _Sun Dragon Inti_!"

The monster that emerged from the pure, blinding light of the Synchro Summon was impressive by virtually any standards. A shining golden sun rested in its center, while the heads of four red Oriental dragons protruded from the compass points about its body. Jack thought for a moment that he was seeing Goodwin's ace card (with the exception of the condor Jibakushin itself, of course), but evidently the dual-Signer was not yet finished. "Next, by removing the Tuner Monster _Red Ant Ascatora_ from my Graveyard, I Special Summon _Stone Statue of the Weeping God_," he stated in a somewhat subdued manner, as if his current move commanded less passion than his last. "And now, by lowering my Life Points by 1000, I Special Summon the _Dark Tuner – Black Goddess Witaka_ from my hand."

Now Jack had a pretty good idea of where Goodwin was heading. All of the Director's rhetoric about mastering light and darkness apparently spilled over into his deck. "I activate _Black Goddess Witaka's _effect," he continued. "This card can become the same Level as 1 Synchro Monster on the field. _Sun Dragon Inti's_ Level is 8. Therefore, _Black Goddess Witaka_ is also Level 8. I'm Dark Tuning my Level 2 _Stone Statue of the Weeping God_ and my now-Level 8 _Black Goddess Witaka_." Rex paused for effect as his somberness disappeared and his zeal returned, chanting, "When the path of darkness is open, the voices of despair can be heard! Become death! Dark Synchro! Show yourself, _Moon Dragon Kuira_!"

Goodwin's newest monster was a mirror image of his other one, but with a sulking moon replacing the smiling sun and coldly azure dragons replacing the deep crimson ones. Its ATK strength was also somewhat weaker, but they were still both clearly formidable creatures. Jack steeled himself as Goodwin gestured forward, commanding, "_Sun Dragon Inti_, attack his _Dark Grepher_! Inferno of Chasca's Dawn!"

"You're not the only one who can play with both light and darkness, Goodwin. Trap Card, open!" Jack declared. "Go, _Dazzling Radiance_! Now your attack is negated, and the monster with the lowest ATK points on your field will be forced to attack the one with the highest!" A wave of chaotic light burst forth from the Trap Card, dissipating _Inti's_ flames instantly. Their cerulean eyes overwhelmed by what Jack now realized was the Hikari no Yami incarnated into card form, the dragon heads of _Kuira_ turned toward their opposite numbers and let loose a torrent of blue fire.

The shadow of surprise lingered over Rex's face before he smiled indulgently. "Very well, then," he acquiesced. "_Moon Dragon Kuira_ would have destroyed itself during the End Phase, anyway…and when the sun sets, the moon will rise again. So all I'm really losing is 500 Life Points. _Kuira_, let forth the Inferno of Coniraya's Dusk!" Since strictly speaking there was no need to call out an attack name here, Jack supposed that Goodwin was simply taking the opportunity to flaunt his knowledge of Incan mythology. Regardless the orange flames of _Inti_ overpowered the blue ones of _Kuira_ by a fair margin, and in another moment the Moon Dragon was no more. Rex seemed decidedly unconcerned however as he finished, "I now Set two cards face-down and end my turn."

Jack was somewhat pleased with himself for having eradicated half of Goodwin's admittedly impressive frontline, but the dual-Signer's comment about the sun setting and the moon rising was troubling him. As he drew his next card and the duelists' respective Speed Counters climbed to 2, it clicked: there was a reason that these monsters were so clearly complementary. They were like sun and moon, day and night, light and darkness; they alternated positions in a never-ending dance, the Synchro waning and the Dark Synchro waxing, and then vice-versa. Certainly such a dueling strategy suited Goodwin well; the man was never without a back-up plan. But perhaps, if Jack could simply eliminate them both at the same time…

Looking down at the card he had just drawn, Jack realized with a wry smile how to break the cycle before it ever really began. "My turn! I activate _Speed Spell – Angel Baton_! Now I can draw 2 cards, and then discard one!" he declared.

"An angel?" Goodwin snorted. "Not quite a Dark Signer's style."

"Perhaps," Jack admitted before letting out a laugh of his own. There was none of Goodwin's unrestrained mania in the Dark King's expression of mirth; it was the high, cold laugh of killer ready to strike with professional precision. "But _this_ angel is."

Lightning crackled behind him, and although Jack was pretty sure that it was merely a coincidence he nonetheless appreciated the effect as he called out, "Now that I have 4 DARK monsters with different names in my Graveyard, I can bring forth this mighty behemoth with only one sacrifice! I Release my _Dark Grepher_ to Advance Summon _Fallen Angel Zerato_!"

The ebony-armored warrior's energy gave way to easily one of the most impressive sights that Jack had ever witnessed on a dueling field. If this monster had indeed once been an angel then that had clearly been quite some time ago, as virtually every aspect of the powerful creature screamed "demon." Deep purple horns protruded from its helm, red leathery wings spanned its body length and then some, and an enormous serrated saber was held aloft in its pitch-black fist. Satisfied that Goodwin too was regarding his new monster with something akin to wonderment, Jack continued, "Next, I activate _Fallen Angel Zerato's_ effect! By sending 1 DARK monster from my hand to the Graveyard, it can obliterate every monster you control instantly. Go, Unsanctified Storm!"

The Fallen Angel dutifully pointed its blade to the sky, where dark clouds gathered directly above _Sun Dragon Inti_. A second later a black bolt of lightning burst forth and engulfed the Synchro Monster completely. "I'm disappointed in you, Jack," Rex commented, shaking his head condescendingly. "I would have thought that a duelist of _your_ caliber would have figured out my Dragons' little trick by now. Oh well…your loss, I suppose." Rex gestured to his right-hand side as he continued, "When _Inti_ is destroyed, _Kuira _returns to the field to take its place! Moon Dragon, be revived!"

The familiar cobalt blue dragons indeed began to rise up from the dark clouds, but far from feeling foolish Jack merely grinned with satisfaction. "I believe that you underestimate me, Goodwin," Jack rejoined, matching his old mentor blow-for-blow in arrogant disdain. "Trap Card, open! _Dark Pitfall_! This card removes from play a monster that was Special Summoned from the Graveyard!" Right on cue a large rift in space opened beneath _Kuira_, and a moment later an enormous black hand reached out and pulled the Moon Dragon into the mystifying abyss. "Then, because the Summoned monster was of the DARK Attribute, we each shuffle our decks and then draw 1 card," he added with malicious relish.

Rex's rage was palpable as he complied with this effect; he could always stand to lose one of the Sun and Moon pair as long as the other existed in the Graveyard to replace it, but with _Kuira_ permanently removed from play his immaculate cycle was broken beyond repair. All the resources that he had sunk into those Dragons were now completely squandered…and of course, with merely 2500 Life Points and no monsters to protect him, he was now in genuine danger of losing the duel. Still, if Jack didn't have anything to counter his Trap Cards, then the dual-Signer might just be able to turn this around after all.

As expected, Jack then declared, "_Fallen Angel Zerato_, end this charade! Purgatorial Blade!"

Now Rex could at least breathe a sigh of relief…if he was still able to do that sort of thing, of course. Leaning forward against his stone podium, he shouted, "I won't let you! I activate a Trap! _Sacrifice of Honor_! When the opponent's monster declares an attack, and I have no monsters, that attack is negated. In addition, I Special Summon two _Sacrifice Stone Tokens_." Before Goodwin's image two ancient stone idols appeared, circular holograms indicating that each had 0 ATK points. A sinister smile spread over the Director's face as he concluded menacingly, "Then I can add a card with 'Jibakushin' in its name from my deck to my hand."

Jack's attention perked up sharply at this secondary effect. With _Speed World_ acting as an everlasting and indestructible Field Spell and two otherwise-useless monsters now ready to be sacrificed, the advent of the condor was undoubtedly close at hand. "If _Fallen Angel Zerato_ uses its effect, it destroys itself during the End Phase," the Dark King admitted, as his sole monster exploded in a burst of Hellfire. "Turn end."

"Very well, then. It's my turn!" Rex replied before drawing. He barely stopped to gaze upon the card he had drawn, however; his move for this turn was already abundantly clear. "I Release the two _Sacrifice Stone Tokens_…to bring forth the ultimate destruction! The strongest Earthbound God! Come forth, _Wiraqocha Rasca_!"

Above the temple of the Star Guardians an enormous sphere of purple light appeared and immediately began to expand, swallowing the two Tokens whole. Meanwhile, all across Neo Domino City, hundreds of people who had recently retired for the evening were waking up to the torturous sensation of having their physical bodies annihilated and their bodily energies pulled irresistibly toward the dark heart that now floated high above Rex Goodwin's form. Finally the condor appeared satisfied with its offering, and with a burst of power unrivaled by anything Jack had ever before witnessed, _Wiraqocha Rasca_ unfurled its massive wings and let loose an earsplitting screech. Although Jack had already seen four Jibakushin in person, even those intimidating sights could not _possibly_ compare with the creature that now hovered before him.

Rex continued to laugh, his mind overtaken by demonic glee. "You see now…I _am_ the ultimate God!" he cried out, spreading his arms wide as he gestured toward the Jibakushin he had brought forth. "This mighty God serves me; that is proof! And now I shall prove it further!" Rex held up his left arm, and even from a distance Jack could see that the mark of the Akaki Ryu was glowing madly. Suddenly, however, the birthmark disappeared…before a massive surge in the power surrounding the Director caused Jack to wince. Admittedly he was fairly new to even _acknowledging_ his Dark Signer senses, but even a neophyte like him could sense that an incredible mystical disturbance was occurring. Hundreds of meters below him, Carly, whose senses were rather more attuned than his, was nearly doubled-over in shock. Witnessing the emergence of the most powerful Jibakushin had been bad enough, but she had never felt anything like _this_ before…

Finally, the entire Crimson Dragon appeared across Goodwin's broad chest as the dual-Signer's mirth spiked dramatically. When Jack was a Signer he had once felt his birthmark disappear and instinctively knew that it had gone to Yusei; apparently something similar had happened here, although the Dark King doubted that the remaining Signers would have been particularly pleased to know just who had absorbed their marks now. Goodwin seemed unconcerned by such trivialities, however. "You see?" he screamed, all pretense of sanity vanished. "Now two Gods bow to me as their master! With the power of the Jibakushin I shall end this world, and then with the power of the Akaki Ryu I shall rebuild it in my image! Former King, allow me to bring forth destiny's will, by forcing you to feel death's cold sting once more!"

[--------------------]

It was times like this when some small part of Tetsu Ushio wondered why he so desperately pursued a woman who was guaranteed never to reciprocate his feelings. If Mikage-san still loved Jack _now_ – and Ushio had been hopelessly in love for long enough to recognize the signs of it in someone else's eyes – then she would love him forever, which meant that Ushio stood no chance. Admittedly even without Jack in the picture Ushio had little hope; Mikage-san might be a secretary, but she was also secretary to the _most powerful man in the fucking world_, and that carried a lot of clout. She was a high society woman and acted the part well, whereas Ushio didn't even know how to tie a necktie correctly (truthfully he just used clip-ons when he needed to and hoped no one would notice). What would Mikage-san – sweet, beautiful, intelligent Mikage-san – ever see in a pathetic rube like him?

Ushio was spared further self-immolation, however, as a small voice rang out behind him, "Ushio Nii-san?" Turning around Ushio smiled slightly to see Takya, the little boy who had almost single-handedly erased the Security Officer's prejudices against the residents of Satellite.

"What's going on, kid?" Ushio asked lightly, ruffling the boy's navy blue hair a bit.

Unfortunately, Takya's demeanor was not similarly nonchalant. "It's Schmitt-sama!" he yelled distressingly. "He's lying out in the backyard right now! Martha says he had a heart attack!"

Ushio was out the door before Takya even finished his last sentence. Tearing through the building at top speed Ushio burst out of the back door of the kitchen less than a minute later to find virtually every resident of the orphanage huddled around the doctor's limp form. As Ushio arrived onto the seen, Yusei looked to him expectantly. "Ushio, do you know CPR?" he asked in a tone vibrating with forced calm.

"Yeah, it's part of required Security Officer training," Ushio replied in a single breath before placing his hands on Dr. Schmitt's chest and executing the rhythmic palpitations that he had been taught so thoroughly that they were now almost reflexive. "Spread out, give him some room!" he ordered, and the assembled men, women, and children took several collective steps back.

"Thank God, Ushio," Yusei muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow in relief. "None of us have any sort of medical training, and we were afraid of doing something that might exacerbate his condition…"

"You do know, Yusei," Ushio interrupted, punctuating each word with a pumping motion, "that CPR is only a stall. It doesn't miraculously revive people like it does in the movies. This guy needs to be taken to a hospital as soon as possible if he's going to have any hope of surviving this."

"That's…going to be a problem," Yusei sighed wearily. He had been afraid of this. "The only person in the entirety of Satellite qualified to operate on Dr. Schmitt is the doctor himself. And I doubt that we could arrange a chopper to get him to a hospital in the city in time."

"Well we're fucked, then," Ushio grumbled before placing his mouth over the old man's and supplying his body with much-needed oxygen. "I'll try to keep him on as long as I can, but unless something changes soon this man is going to die within the next half-hour."

Yusei opened his mouth to thank Ushio but was silenced immediately by a deep, throbbing pain in his right arm. Ushio chanced a glance away from Dr. Schmitt's body to witness Yusei clutching his forearm and grimacing in pain; Crow, Aki, and Ruka appeared to be having similar reactions. A moment later the Signers stared down in shock to find their birthmarks vanished, stolen away by some unseen force. Ushio had no idea what was going on here, but it was hard to read it as anything other than a bad omen.

[--------------------]

_(Jack Atlas: 4000 LP, 3 SC – Rex Goodwin: 2500 LP, 3 SC)_

The shimmering hologram that appeared before Wiraqocha Rasca to display its ATK power somewhat undercut its fearsome image. "Wait a minute; 'the strongest Earthbound God' has…_1 ATK point_?" Jack spat, laughing derisively.

"I suppose that it's just like you to ignore everything but its physical power, Jack," Rex replied dismissively. "There is _far_ more to my beast than merely the strength it displays upon its surface. Now my ancient juggernaut, demonstrate your true power! Judgment of Uku Pacha!"

Upon command the condor opened its enormous maw and let loose a massive purple inferno directly at the Dark King. Jack attempted to swerve away from the central point of impact, but his injured arm would not cooperate, and an instant later he could hear Carly screaming hundreds of meters away as he flew off of the Wheel of Death and bounced several times upon the unnatural surface of the condor geoglyph. Groaning deeply, Jack picked himself up and returned to his fallen D-Wheel, which had skid badly but was otherwise in perfect shape. Glancing at the screen on the heads-up display before him revealed an incredible shock: his Life Points now matched precisely the ATK strength of the condor that had struck him down…one.

The Dark King swore magnificently before mounting the Wheel of Death once more and recommencing the duel. He found himself to be having trouble accelerating; evidently the Jibakushin's effect had eliminated all of his Speed Counters as well. Goodwin merely laughed at the sight of the former King reseating himself like a toddler on a tricycle and returning to the fray at such a sluggish pace. "Now do you dare to mock the might of my God?" he declared rhetorically. "In return for skipping my Battle Phase, Wiraqocha Rasca can eliminate all but one of my opponent's Life Points. I'll place one more card face-down as well as Summoning my _Apocatequil_ in Defense Position,and then leave you to grasp desperately at the little life you have left!" As Rex erupted into another fit of mania, a strangely angular creature appeared in front of him, guarding its master's Life Points with wooden intractability.

Jack attempted to ignore his opponent's superciliousness as much as possible as he drew his next card. "My turn!" he called out. "Now that there are at least 5 DARK monsters in my Graveyard and I control no monsters, I can Special Summon the _Dark Creator_!" Lightning of deepest ebony burst forth from multiple points throughout the skies before converging on a single spot before the Dark King, and out of the impact rose a mechanical monstrosity with pitch-black armor and enormous orange wings. Immediately the wicked deity began to focus the lightning around it into a dense sphere as Jack activated its effect. "Next, by removing from play 1 DARK monster in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon another! Arise, _Dark Perseus_!"

As the sphere of darkness reached critical mass, expanding and contracting uncontrollably, the _Dark Creator_ raised it above its silvery black skull and with a mighty effort hurled it to the side. The orb struck the purple flames that bordered the condor geoglyph and exploded in a brilliant flash, before the remaining shadows yielded yet another fallen angel, residue from the dark blast oozing off of its ebony body. Unlike _Zerato_, however, _Dark Perseus_ appeared more beast than man, a demonic centaur wielding an ancient sword-and-shield and surrounded by several bizarre sparks of dark light.

"My _Dark Perseus_ is quite an interesting creature," Jack explained with cruel satisfaction. "For every DARK monster within my Graveyard, it gains an extra 100 ATK points. Four such monsters remain, so my evil knight's ATK strength is now 2300. Now _Dark Perseus_, put that power to use! Corrupted Aegis!"

The specks of flickering darkness began to swirl around _Dark Perseus'_ blade until suddenly the broadsword disappeared from sight. Rather than appear alarmed, however, the dark angel stared into the polished surface of its shield, which it angled carefully to point directly toward _Apocatequil_, until without warning the saber rematerialized, its tip protruding from the wooden idol's rectangular head. "When _Apocatequil_ is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon _Priest of the Sun_ to take its place!" Rex shouted, and indeed the intricately robed Inca from several turns before shot out of the Graveyard in a burst of solar light before taking on the blue tint that indicated Defense Position.

"Fine," Jack answered indifferently. "_Dark Perseus_ has another effect: by removing 1 more DARK monster from my Graveyard when it destroys an opponent's monster, I can draw 1 card." The Dark King did so, and his empty eyes narrowed with intrigue as he gazed at the card he had just drawn. Played right, this card would mean victory. Played perfectly, it would mean even more. "Next, I'll attack your _Priest of the Sun _with my _Dark Creator_. Go, Thunder of Nocturne!" Jack declared, as black bolts of lightning gathered in his monster's palms before firing at the Priest and incinerating it. "Finally I Set one card face-down. Turn end," he finished.

"It's my turn!" Rex cried out, his demeanor once again wild now that control of the duel had been returned to him. "_Wiraqocha Rasca_, kill him!" Dutifully the condor dipped its head and began to dive steadily toward the Wheel of Death. The Jibakushin might only have 1 ATK point, but that was all that the Dark King had left.

Jack smirked, however, as he revealed his latest Trap. "Activate Trap Card, _Spirit Barrier_!" he yelled. "While this card remains in play, I can no longer take Battle Damage while I control at least one monster!" The condor continued to execute its strike, but a shield of strange ethereal energy formed around the Wheel of Death that prevented its massive beak from making direct contact.

"Fuck you, Jack Atlas!" Rex screamed at the top of his lungs, his temper reaching the boiling point. With a single Permanent Trap Card, Jack had shut down his entire strategy; _Wiraqocha Rasca's_ life-changing ability, while incredibly powerful, was only useful once. And with _Spirit Barrier_ in play, the only way to actually finish the former King off would be to get past his constantly replenishing army of boss cards, a feat that seemed nearly impossible. Neither of the cards that the dual-Signer currently had face-down were particularly helpful – _Destruct Potion_ would replenish his Life Points but at the cost of one of his monsters, and the only monster he currently controlled was nigh-useless for that purpose (sacrificing a Jibakushin for 1 Life Point was _not_ an equitable deal). _Meteor Flare_ meanwhile would in fact win him the duel, but to activate it he needed to discard 2 cards, and the only way that the Director was going to be able to fulfill that condition would be for him to wait until next turn. With _Wiraqocha Rasca_ unable to defend his Life Points from direct attacks, waiting was not a luxury that Rex Goodwin could afford. In short, the dual-Signer was left with only one option.

"I activate the _Speed Spell – Storm of Illapa_!" Rex announced, his black eyes livid at the last-ditch path he was being forced to take. "This card can only be activated while both players control the same numbers of cards. Now, in return for sacrificing the same number of Speed Counters – in this case, three – and half of my Life Points, all of the cards you control are removed from play during the End Phase!" True to the Director's word, an enormous clay jug appeared above the condor geoglyph, out of which came tendrils of lightning that struck down both of Jack's monsters as well as _Spirit Barrier_. The three cards, however, did not shatter as would be expected, but instead transformed into what appeared to be stars as they were absorbed into the jug upon the dual-Signer's declaration of, "Turn end!"

Jack merely laughed again. "A desperate move by a desperate man!" he jeered. "You speak of mastering two Gods, Goodwin, but you have yet to prove yourself to be anything more than a pawn. Do you not realize that in the eyes of the Akaki Ryu and the Jibakushin alike, you are nothing? I acknowledge it; Hell, I revel in it. I do not claim to be a God because I know that to do so is foolish beyond measure, a simple truth that, despite all of your clever scheming, appears to have eluded you. Instead I bask in the glory of being King – the Dark King. And now I shall begin my reign, by ending yours!"

Rex was about to offer a rejoinder, but his chest appeared to have a mind of its own. Satisfied now that its current avatar was unworthy of its power, the Crimson Dragon was seizing back its mark, and all of the strength that came with it. Rex recoiled in horror, unable to even make a sound, as half of the power that he had worked to acquire for over seventeen years slipped away from him. His fists shook with fury and frustration as his anger grew, until finally he grasped several long strands of his silvery hair and wrenched them from his scalp. "Why?" he cried to the heavens, his voice magnified a hundredfold. "Hadn't the Akaki Ryu…chosen me, the one to become God?"

"You're wrong!" Jack declared. "You have been chosen by nothing, Goodwin. And now I'm going to prove it by sending you to the deepest depths of Hell, where you belong! My…" he called out, drawing out the possessive as long as possible as he prepared to draw his next card with a flourish, "…turn!"

[--------------------]

Dr. Schmitt's prospects did not portend well. Ushio was doing the best he could, but it now appeared more-or-less inevitable that the good doctor was going to die.

Yusei just wished that he could do more. Standing here on the sidelines as a valued friend lay dying was _not_ the Signer leader's style, but truthfully there really wasn't much that Yusei could do for him. His subconscious flirted with the idea of asking the Crimson Dragon for help – he had, after all, personally witnessed it perform miracles of far greater magnitude than this – but for whatever reason the ancient deity had seen fit to abandon them completely at this moment. Yusei could only assume that their marks had been "borrowed" by the Fifth Signer…whoever _that_ was.

The inexplicable return of his birthmark caught Yusei completely off-guard, mostly because it was tremendously unspectacular. One moment his right forearm was bare, and the next moment the tail of the Akaki Ryu was once more in the position where it had rested since his birth. What followed this subdued re-emergence, however, _certainly_ qualified as a miracle.

In a flash of light brighter than anything Yusei had ever before witnessed, the tail mark upon his arm burst into a million twinkling sparks, and in its place appeared the mark of the Crimson Dragon's head.

Yusei could only stare in wonderment as the wings and claws of the Akaki Ryu returned to their respective owners, similar expressions of bewilderment apparent on each of their faces, but no one's level of surprise came even close to matching Tetsu Ushio's. The burly Security Officer was being forcefully interrupted in his attempts to maintain Dr. Schmitt's vital processes as the crimson light that had left Yusei's arm a moment ago was now flowing into his body, and within a few seconds the mark that had been Yusei's for eighteen years now glowed vibrantly on Ushio's forearm. "What in the Hell…" was all the man could manage to utter before something even more incredible happened.

The now-united birthmarks of the Signers shined so brightly that they approached white on the visible spectrum, and instinctively their wielders reached toward Dr. Schmitt until their marked arms formed a tight circle. An orb of crimson light shot out from the draconic symbols that immediately enveloped the old man, and one massive, audible heartbeat later his eyes opened wide in shock. Apparently satisfied that they had fulfilled their duty the birthmarks faded back to the dull burgundy shade that they usually wore as Dr. Schmitt lifted himself to his feet, the simple fact that he was alive leaving him in awe.

"My word…" he murmured, flexing his hands and joints in amazement. Finally Dr. Schmitt let out a sharp bark of a laugh. "I feel better than I have in years!" he cried out, before turning to Yusei and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't understand what just happened and I don't think that I ever really want to. But just know that, whatever you did, I thank you sincerely for it. I'd offer to fix you up in gratitude, but it looks like that weird light did a number on your physical ailments as well as mine."

Staring down at himself, Yusei realized that the doctor was right; every cut, scrape, and abrasion that he had incurred over the past several hours had vanished completely, healed through one last parting favor from the Akaki Ryu. "Thanks, but the credit should really go to the Crimson Dragon for healing you; we were just serving as its vessels," he informed a puzzled Dr. Schmitt modestly. "Though if you're truly set on thanking someone in _this_ realm for saving your life, I would go with Ushio here. He kept you alive with CPR until the Crimson Dragon could intervene."

"Really?" Dr. Schmitt answered, turning to the Security Officer who was looking distinctly wrong-footed at the praise. "Well like I said, I'd really rather not even _try_ to get my head around this whole 'Crimson Dragon' business, but I certainly commend you for taking such quick and effective emergency action, son. If Security ever feels they can spare you, I'd love to offer you a job at my clinic someday. Thank you; from the bottom of my heart, thank you," the doctor finished, offering his hand.

"Umm…yeah, sure. I'm just glad I could help," Ushio replied, returning the handshake awkwardly.

"And with that mark on your arm, let me be the first to say: welcome to the fold!" Crow exclaimed, clapping the Officer on the back.

"Right, right," Ushio said nervously. "About that…I need to have some time alone to think. I'll see you all in the morning." And with that, he walked off down an empty forest path.

Yusei was about to chase after him, but thought better of it. After everything that had occurred today, he had a more important task to attend to. Once Yusei had the answers to a few burning questions, _then_ he would go and speak with the man that he would now have to get used to calling the Fifth Signer.

[--------------------]

_(Jack Atlas: 1 LP, 3 SC – Rex Goodwin: 1250 LP, 3 SC)_

Even from a distance of nearly a kilometer away Rex could recognize the expression on Jack's face as he gazed upon the card he had just drawn. It was a face that Rex knew all too well: the face of assured victory.

"If you've been paying any attention to my Graveyard, Goodwin, then you'll notice that it currently contains exactly 3 DARK monsters," Jack announced imperiously. "And that's quite important for my next monster, which happens to be quite particular about the circumstances surrounding its Summon. With three creatures of the darkness fallen before it, the stage is set for the advent of one of the most powerful creatures in all of Duel Monsters! I now herald the Summoning of _Dark Armed Dragon_!"

The Dark King's dramatics were not wasted. As soon as Jack announced his monster's title, a gale-force hurricane descended from the skies and settled in front of its master before bladed arms cut straight through the caliginous winds and revealed a bipedal dragon of unparalleled ferocity. The creature appeared almost agitated, as if it had been anxious to leave the cramped confines of its cardboard prison, and it demonstrated this amply by shrieking uncontrollably and thrashing its club-tipped tail about. "As you can see, my beast is quite…eager to instigate battle," Jack remarked with a smirk. "But first, I think that I'll activate its effect. Simply by removing a DARK monster from my Graveyard, I can destroy 1 card you control."

At this, Rex Goodwin's face finally betrayed a shred of fear. The Jibakushin were immune to attacks as well as the Spells and Traps of the opponent, but monster effects remained their greatest weakness. He had already been abandoned by one of his Gods, and he wasn't sure he could take it happening again.

Noticing the stricken expression across Goodwin's image, Jack added, "Don't worry; I'm not going to destroy _Wiraqocha Rasca_…I have far grander plans for the condor. Your face-down cards, on the other hand, are fair game. _Dark Armed Dragon_, destroy them! Blades of Absolute End!"

Upon command the titanic dragon absorbed pure darkness from within Jack's Graveyard, channeling the energy into two of the weapon-like protrusions that lined its body before suddenly wrenching the blades from its sides and throwing them at the Trap Cards that still resided on Goodwin's field. Rex swore under his breath, as there was nothing he could do for his Set cards; both were useless at the current time, and he had nothing available to protect them. Or himself, for that matter. With such a powerful creature on his side of the field and Rex's only monster unable to defend its master from any coming assaults, Jack had won the duel already.

Given this, it surprised Rex quite a bit when, instead of entering his Battle Phase, the former King activated a Speed Spell. "Activate _Speed Spell – Dark Wave_! As long as I have 3 or more Speed Counters, this card allows me to change the positive Level of one of monsters to its negative equivalent!" Indeed a strange dark energy began to surround _Dark Armed Dragon_ until it coated the creature completely, transforming its coloration to become not unlike the negative of a photo. Rex really could not fathom what Jack was up to…at least until he played his next card.

"Next, I Summon the _Dark Tuner – Judas' Soul_!" Jack called out, playing the last card in his hand with a magnanimous gesture. What emerged onto the Dark King's field now could only be described as an amorphous blob…except that occasionally it _did_ have a form, though the next moment it would either have a completely different one or none at all. It truly was a disturbing sight; Rex thought he could see a seedy man, then a jingling bag of coins, then a dragon's head swallowing something nondescript, and then finally just colorless goo once more. In any event, though, the words "Dark Tuner" had given away Jack's game plan to the Director: the arrogant teenager wanted to usurp his former mentor in as humiliating a manner as possible. Rex braced himself as Jack prepared to make his final move.

"Now it is finally time, Goodwin!" Jack shouted passionately. "I Dark Tune my Level 1 _Dark Tuner – Judas' Soul _with my Level -7 _Dark Armed Dragon_!" As the single dark star entered _Dark Armed Dragon's_ body and began mutating it beyond all recognition, Jack began to chant, the fiery expression in his ebony eyes matching perfectly the violet inferno that was beginning to surround his side of the field. "The power of the High Ruler of Hell echoes throughout all of creation! Witness as life itself bows to my very will! Dark Synchro! My fallen soul, _Amethyst Archdæmon's Dragon_!"

Rex Goodwin had lost count of the number of times this duel that he had seen something the likes of which he had never witnessed before, but this Dark Synchro Monster took the cake. To call it merely a purple version of _Red Dæmon's Dragon_ would have been an egregious insult, although admittedly that was what the creature most closely resembled. Still, _Red Dæmon's Dragon_ didn't have two sets of massive wings, or blades across its massive forearms that put its Synchro Material Monster to shame, or a fanged mouth that appeared to be perpetually oozing violet blood. But most of all, _Red Dæmon's Dragon_ lacked this beast's eyes. At first glance the former Second Signer Dragon might have appeared to be a Satanic demon, but there was a…humanity within its golden irises that would inform any careful observer that within its crimson body lay the soul of a hero. _This_ beast on the other hand lacked any indication that it even _had_ a soul. Like its master's, its eyes were completely and utterly empty, blind to anything but the pursuit of further power.

Jack glanced with immense satisfaction at his new familiar, surrounded by violet Hellfire and staring at Goodwin with blood in its eyes. As he moved to turn the final table in this battle, however, he felt a soft but forceful pang in his newly realized Dark Signer senses, a feeling that for whatever reason he interpreted to mean to look toward his right side. Doing so the Dark King saw his Dark Queen flashing him an enormous smile and a thumbs-up from several hundred meters below him. Returning the gesture, Jack reflected with a sadistic grin that that was just the kind of pick-me-up he needed to reignite his zeal for the last surprise he had waiting to spring on Goodwin. "When _Dark Tuner – Judas' Soul_ is used as Synchro Material for a Dark Synchro Summon, I'm allowed to take control of one of my opponent's monsters!" Jack announced, knowing that the reaction on Goodwin's face would be priceless.

Indeed, if Goodwin was still capable of doing so, he might well have pissed his pants right then and there. The soul of the amorphous globule of goo exited the Dark King's Graveyard in a mighty flash before surrounding the head of _Wiraqocha Rasca_ and moving it to Jack's side of the field. What truly terrified Rex, however, was that the condor did not appear at all forced or even unwilling. As soon as the Dark Tuner's effect gave it an excuse, the willfulness of the Jibakushin's betrayal could not have been more blatant. And if there were still any lingering doubts, they were instantly dispelled by the wrathful look that the condor bestowed upon him. Silent understanding passed between the God and its avatar…he had failed, and now he was going to pay the price.

"While the controlled monster cannot attack this turn, that hardly matters anymore," Jack remarked before thrusting his arm forward, straight at the man who had now been abandoned by both of his Gods. "_Amethyst Archdæmon's Dragon_, end this once and for all! Absolute Shadowforce!"

Rex Goodwin saw the massive fistful of pitch-dark flames, and then he saw nothing at all.

[--------------------]

Yusei had walked a good twenty minutes or so before stopping in a small forest clearing. It would not do to be followed or overheard right now.

Having finally confirmed for himself that no other soul was around for miles, the Signer leader looked up to the sky expectantly and shouted, "Alright Akaki Ryu, I want answers! Talk to me!"

Several moments passed, and Yusei began to feel somewhat ridiculous. He had no real assurance that this was actually going to work, but nonetheless he _needed_ information right now, and unfortunately it was mostly the kind of information that no person on the Earthly plane would be able to provide him. Just as the spiky-haired teenager began to consider turning back, however, a very familiar voice answered his call.

"I'm afraid that the Akaki Ryu doesn't speak, Yusei," explained the voice. "Not directly, anyway."

Yusei could hardly believe his good fortune. To finally hear the voice he had yearned to hear for seventeen long years just _once_ had been incredible; hearing it twice within the space of several hours was almost too much too bear. "Father…" he answered blissfully, turning around to see the spirit of Professor Fudo, undeniably deceased but nonetheless smiling warmly at the sight of his only son.

[--------------------]

A/N: Now is that a chapter or is that a _chapter_? Seriously, that duel took more out of me than half of the rest of the story put together. I hope that y'all enjoyed it, because it took _a lot_ of tries to get it to actually work logically. I have far more respect for the anime writers now, LOL.

Again I find myself putting off a scene for next chapter, mainly because I'm pretty tired now and I want to do it justice. Jack's defeated Goodwin and the condor's thrown its chips in with the Dark King, but there are still quite a few pieces to pick up on that score. I hope you'll like how I handle 'em.

For anyone wondering, Goodwin makes several more references to Incan mythology in this duel than he did in the anime, so here are the origins for the cards/attack names that I invented:

_Chasca_ = Goddess of the dawn, purity, chastity, youth

_Coniraya_ = Goddess of the dusk, night, moon

_Uku Pacha_ = Hell, the Underworld

_Illapa_ = God of weather/storms who held the Milky Way Galaxy in an enormous jug

The other allusions (_Dark Perseus_ attacking using invisibility and a mirrored shield, a monster based on Judas Iscariot, etc.) should, I hope, be clear to anyone with a general knowledge of Grecian, Biblical, etc. mythology. And if not, it just goes to demonstrate how smart I is. :D

And now, time for that special part of the chapter where I honor my reviewers for being awesomely awesome. So many thanks this time around to The Cobalt Rose, Yusei, KaliAnn, Zaconator and Zackis, Xoroth, I LOVE JACK ATLAS, and Sara Crewe, that delightfully sadistic Asian girl who would probably kick me in the balls if I didn't give her special mention here…despite being half an ocean away from me. Yeah, she's _that_ good at kicking dudes in the balls. BTW, take heed of this reference, I LOVE JACK ATLAS; as this explanation and my profile both indicate, I…am…a…dude. :p

Wait, am I forgetting someone? Oh yes…give me an "O"! _O!_

Give me an "R"! _R!_

Give me an "A"! _A!_

Give me an…oh, fuck it. orangerebellion, if you want your name spelled out by the fantasy cheerleading squad in my head, then get a shorter username. So I shall instead use this space to declare that your reviews kick more and more ass with every passing chapter and that reading them makes me very, very, _very_ happy. ;)

My take on Season 2 has just about wrapped up, but as for the story as a whole, we're just getting started. As the curtain closes on Act 1 of this play, so it opens for the second major chapter in the saga of the Dark King. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 8: _Revelations_.

- Masterdramon


	8. Revelations

**My Dark King – Chapter 8: Revelations**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[--------------------]

The sudden disappearance of the hummingbird geoglyph put Jack Atlas in a somewhat precarious position, but fortunately Carly managed to arrest the fall of the Wheel of Death just in time. Levitation of heavy objects was a tricky business, but the power jump that Aslla piscu had predicted would occur upon Goodwin's return to death had been far more drastic than either of the remaining two Dark Signers had ever anticipated.

"Thanks, Carly," Jack said appreciatively as he dismounted his D-Wheel and removed his battered helmet. "We're probably going to need to do more work on this thing at some point, but first thing's first…" As Jack moved to return to the pyramid, however, Carly silenced him by locking the lips of the Dark King in a passionate embrace with hers, and after a moment of surprise he responded in kind.

It was truly wonderful, not having to think about such trivial things as oxygen that might get in the way of the simple act of kissing. Sometimes Jack found himself wondering how living couples even managed it at all. Breaking moments like this was _not_ something that either Dark Signer did lightly, and it seemed almost inconceivable to Jack how any man could ever do so for any reason other than that the moment had finally passed.

Eventually it did so, although Jack was acutely aware that it had taken exactly five minutes and forty-seven seconds for the couple to reach that point. "Not quite what I had in mind, but I certainly can't fault you for your…suggestion," he murmured, still holding his Dark Queen tight. Inevitably, however, he felt the need to return the subject to business. There were still several pieces of the puzzle left hanging. "Do you know what happened to Goodwin?" he asked. "I would think that there would at least be a body."

"Well, you did more-or-less incinerate him with that last attack," Carly jibed playfully before turning serious as well. "Normally a Dark Signer's body would turn to ash and then fade away upon their second death, but the normal procedures appear to have been bypassed in this instance. Presumably, the King of the Underworld was impatient for its sacrifice." Carly's lip curled upward as she continued, "Know that right now, Goodwin is most likely having what's left of his soul torn apart as his bodily energy provides the conduit necessary for the King to rise again. I acknowledge that it's not _quite_ as satisfying as having the man physically present to torture, but I hope that you can get by on the image."

"I suppose I'll have to make due with it, yes," Jack agreed, nodding slightly. "Well, I'd best climb the temple steps once more and see whether the condor's card is still in one piece." And with that the Dark King began to ascend the stairway purposefully, anxious for the apex of his destiny that awaited him at its summit.

[--------------------]

"How is this happening?" Yusei asked in utter bewilderment. "Me talking to you, I mean?"

Professor Fudo's spirit smiled indulgently. "Like I said, the Crimson Dragon doesn't speak to mortals directly," he answered sagely. "When it needs to ferry a message to Earth, it contracts a deceased spirit to speak for it."

"But why you, specifically?" Yusei inquired.

"Well, for one thing, I'm already familiar with the general process," Professor Fudo answered with a lopsided smirk. "I received a spirit messenger myself a few weeks before my death, in order to convince me to create the Five Dragons. The Akaki Ryu tends to prefer its emissaries to have some sort of prior experience with the supernatural. A personal connection to the recipient is a plus as well, which is probably the single biggest reason I got this gig. And I think it goes without saying that I was quite eager to take it on."

"Who was your messenger?" Yusei pressed on in curiosity. Part of him, the part closest to his heart, was telling him to drop the questions and just enjoy this impossible moment with his father, but for the first time in quite a while it looked like he was actually chipping away at the secrets of the other side, and the yearning to learn, to _understand_, was too great.

To Yusei's great surprise, his father's apparition broke out in laughter, a hoarse but hearty wheeze. "You're reminding me so much of myself at your age that it's killing me…figure of speech, of course," he remarked wryly. "I never could stop asking questions either, no matter the situation. Word of advice, though: make sure and break that habit by the time you get married. You wouldn't believe the number of times your mother kicked my ass because I hadn't yet learned when to hold my tongue. I've got a nasty scar in the small of my back to prove it…at least I think I do, anyway. Hard to tell when you no longer have a body." As Professor Fudo broke into renewed mirth, Yusei was forced to dramatically reassess his preconceived notions of his father. Admittedly he had had almost nothing to go on to form a mental image of the man prior to this day, but from the scattered anecdotes he had managed to piece together over the years he had always considered Professor Fudo to be a fairly serious, even stoic character. But the flippant manner in which he apparently regarded his own demise certainly belied that idea.

"To answer your original question, the spirit who contacted me was an old professor of mine from Domino University, by the name of Daichi Misawa," Professor Fudo elucidated. The ghost turned away from his son and stared at the starless sky, apparently lost in wistful reminiscence as he went on in a more subdued tone. "Misawa-sensei was my professor of applied physics, a brilliant scientist who won the Nobel Prize at age twenty-one by experimentally demonstrating Zweinstein's Theory of Duel Relativity. But even more than that, I like to remember him as my mentor, my confidant, and my dear friend. Not only was the breadth of his knowledge on academic subjects virtually unparalleled, but he was also no stranger to more…arcane matters. He had the eyes of a man who had seen the unbelievable time and time again, and that perspective informed the advice he offered me. I received my first position on M.I.D.S. thanks to Misawa-sensei's recommendation, and consequently I owe him both my career and my family – I met your mother while doing research on the project, after all. In fact, Misawa-sensei was actually the first person to congratulate us when she became pregnant with you. I had never seen him so happy." Professor Fudo's smile broadened at this before disappearing completely. "Unfortunately, that was also the last time I saw him. He died less than a week later."

"I'm sorry," Yusei offered sympathetically. "How did it happen?"

Yusei was quite sure that he wasn't imagining his father's fists clenching as he answered, "At the time, we all believed that the cause was a freak lab accident. It was only when Misawa-sensei's ghost appeared to me that I learned the truth – that he had been murdered by agents of Yliaster."

Yusei blanched in horrified astonishment at this latest revelation. "Yliaster…" he murmured. "But…aren't they supposed to be working _for_ the Crimson Dragon?"

Professor Fudo nodded grimly. "Yliaster may have started with good intentions, but if they did then they abandoned those centuries ago," he replied, the last vestige of levity in his voice fading away. "As I understand it, Yliaster was originally founded by the People of the Stars in order to provide continuity for the Akaki Ryu. They knew that every five thousand years a new generation of Signers would rise to take up the fight against the forces of the Underworld, and they wanted to be well-prepared for the next conflict. But like any organization that gathers power as a means to an end, eventually that power became an end in-and-of-itself. In its modern form Yliaster bears almost no resemblance to its ancient counterpart, all its nobler goals having been swallowed whole by the greed of men. I know not why they targeted Misawa-sensei, but he was not the only person to die by their hands in the years leading up to Zero Reverse. Ground Self-Defense Force Colonel 'Tyranno' Kenzan, pro-duelists Edo Phoenix and Ryo Marufuji, world-renowned graphic artist Hayato Maeda; those are just a few of the names that Misawa-sensei shared with me.

"With every drop of blood that Yliaster spilled, the fury of the Akaki Ryu grew ever more intense," Professor Fudo continued. "Finally it could no longer stand by and passively observe the atrocities committed in its name, so it decided to intervene directly by sending Misawa-sensei to me. This meeting occurred just days before Zero Reverse, and the timing was no mere coincidence; the Akaki Ryu had finally been spurred to action by the leader of Yliaster, who had appeared to a young Rudger Goodwin and convinced him to reignite the conflict between the Signers and the Dark Signers…two millennia ahead of schedule. For whatever reason, Yliaster has pitted the forces of light and darkness against each other at a time that defies the cycle of destiny. And somehow, their leader believes that he will derive some benefit from the War that has resulted from his callous manipulation of fate."

"I heard about that from Rudger when I dueled him at old Momentum…but not the whole story," Yusei said, his brow furrowed in thought. "You said that the man who convinced Rudger to set off Zero Reverse was Yliaster's leader. But isn't that Goodwin?"

"Ostensibly, yes," Professor Fudo answered. "But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Rex Goodwin is nothing more than a glorified puppet, an insignificant pawn in a much grander scheme; one that Yliaster has been subtly arranging and directing since long before either of the Goodwin brothers were born. The combination of Rudger's fanaticism and Rex's ambition made them the ideal patsies. And indeed, with their respective roles having already been fulfilled, the brothers have both outlived their usefulness to Yliaster's plans…quite literally, in fact."

"Wait, wait! Hold on a minute!" Yusei exclaimed. "Are you saying that Goodwin is dead?"

"You really should stop referring to Rex as 'Goodwin.' Since they share the same last name, it can get rather confusing sometimes," Professor Fudo responded, the corner of his mouth curving upward for the first time since Yliaster had become the subject of the conversation. "But yes, he is."

"When did this happen?" Yusei asked, leaning forward slightly. Something was telling him that he had finally hit the vein of questioning that was going to produce the answers he had come for in the first place, and his anxiety was building rapidly.

"It depends on which time you're talking about, I suppose," Professor Fudo stated, tapping his chin contemplatively. "He died for the first time about twenty hours ago. But he died permanently about twenty _minutes_ ago."

"But…but that means…" Yusei began.

"…That Rex Goodwin was a Dark Signer?" Professor Fudo finished with just the hint of a smile. "Yes, that's exactly what that means."

"Explain. Now," was Yusei's laconic response.

"I suppose I can't blame you for wanting to get to the point," Professor Fudo said. "The short version of the story is that Rudger's original idea of Rex leading the Signers against him didn't sit so well with the good Director. He wanted to defy destiny, to bend it to his will, and so he resolved to take both the powers of the Akaki Ryu and the Jibakushin into himself. He believed that by doing so he might become the ultimate God, with absolute control over all the forces of light and darkness. Needless to say, this didn't work out so well. Rex did indeed attain the power he desired, but only for a very brief period. Just moments ago, his reign was abruptly cut short by none other than your friend, Jack Atlas."

None of the revelations that Yusei had heard thus far had prepared him for this bombshell, and it was clear from Professor Fudo's expression that the specter had thoroughly anticipated the effect of his words. "Jack…" Yusei muttered, his voice barely more than a whisper. The mere mention of his best friend's name had ripped open the still-very-fresh wounds left by his cold parting speech, and Yusei was suddenly finding it very difficult to speak. "Tell me…what happened to Jack," he managed to choke out.

"I cannot," Professor Fudo responded, attempting to place his hand on his son's shoulder. The spirit and the flesh could not make physical contact, but the meaning of the gesture remained the same. "I'm truly sorry, but I cannot. That was the one thing that the Akaki Ryu was quite adamant about not revealing to you. Ask me anything else you like, but the only person from whom you can learn Jack's full story is…Jack himself. Someday, you two will confront each other once more. I pray that you are fully prepared when that day comes."

"Isn't there _anything_ you can tell me about him?" Yusei asked imploringly. "I need to know. I _must_ know!"

Professor Fudo sighed as he gazed at his transparent palm, the lines of which were beginning to blur. "My time with you grows short," he declared. "I'm afraid that I can offer no _direct _information on the subject of Jack Atlas, but I may be able to illuminate you on several…related matters. You need but ask the right questions."

Yusei pondered the scene that he had left behind for a moment before remembering the mysterious woman who had appeared at the lizard control tower, the one whom Jack had referred to as his "Dark Queen," and nodded affirmatively. "Who was the other Dark Signer that Jack was with?" he asked.

"Jack now exists as one of the only two Dark Signers on Earth," Professor Fudo answered. "The other's name is Carly Nagisa. Perhaps researching her human life will provide clues to Jack's current state."

Yusei took a moment to take this information in before attempting a different route of inquiry. "How about Red Dæmon's Dragon? I mean, if Jack is a Dark Signer now, then what happened to his Signer Dragon?" he added.

Professor Fudo's face twisted at this question, as if answering it was causing him physical pain. "The disciple of the Akaki Ryu known to you as the Red Dæmon's Dragon is…no more," he declared. "Like your friend, its mortal vessel – the card I printed all those years ago – has been utterly corrupted by the corrosive darkness of the Underworld. Its current form is that which you call a Dark Synchro…a being of pure emptiness, void of anything but the negative energies of the deepest shadows." Professor Fudo swallowed heavily before continuing. "Unfortunately, there is no longer anything that can be done for it. The good news, however, is that the power of the Second Dragon has not been lost. Just as the mark of the Akaki Ryu has passed on to a new host, so too has the destined position that Red Dæmon's Dragon once held been passed on to a new card. I cannot answer for which, but it is likely to be a card of great emotional significance to the Signer who now wields the mark of the Crimson Dragon's wings." The spirit paused for a moment as the very tips of his fingers began to fade into pale vapor. "I have time for only one more question, I think," he announced solemnly. "And I will _not_ be deprived of the chance to say goodbye this time."

Yusei's shoulders shook slightly as he attempted to discern exactly what question his father was waiting for. It had to be something at least faintly related to Jack and the Dark Signers, something that the Crimson Dragon would want him to know, something that could only be answered by the man who had printed the five dragons into physical form…and then finally, it clicked.

"Where is the Fifth Dragon?" Yusei asked with an air of finality.

"That, my son, is the right question," Professor Fudo said, a small but proud smile appearing across his face. "The Fifth Dragon, the most powerful of the Akaki Ryu's envoys, was intentionally hidden from the eyes of the world, for the Signer that it was originally destined for turned his back on his destiny and entered the wicked embrace of the Jibakushin instead. So upon the Akaki Ryu's command, I cleaved the dragon's mortal form in two, so that even if Rudger were to attain one card it would be useless to him without the other. The body of the Fifth Dragon was sealed in steel and sent into circulation, just as Stardust Dragon, Red Dæmon's Dragon, and Black Rose Dragon eventually were. The soul of the Fifth Dragon was…"

Professor Fudo was abruptly cut short as his body rapidly began to disappear. "It was stolen by Yliaster, years ago!" he exclaimed tearfully, attempting to embrace his son as his last moments on Earth dissipated. "You must find it! I have faith in you, Yusei! Take this, as a parting gift from your father!" And with that, the spirit placed his faded hand upon Yusei's birthmark, which began to glow brilliantly. Once more an expression of contentment came across his face, though the tears remained. "Now you will be able to use your mark to teleport wherever you so wish within the physical realm. The power will only last for twenty-four hours, but I trust that you will make good use of it. Goodbye, my son…and never forget that I am watching over you, always."

"Goodbye, father," Yusei returned, his own physical tears now building up to match the spirit's. Father and son attempted to touch each other in a way that was no longer possible, before a gust of wind shot through the clearing, and Professor Fudo was gone once more.

[--------------------]

After everything Jack had seen, the fact that Goodwin's entire deck had survived the pitch-black inferno to which its master had been subjected should not have come as a surprise, but nevertheless it did. Each and every piece of cardboard appeared perfectly pristine, but the Dark King sifted through them all with little care before laying his cold fingers upon the one which would, if the hummingbird was to be believed, grant him immortality. When at last he held Wiraqocha Rasca's physical form within his palm, Jack was pleased to note that it felt warm to his touch, as if the power radiating from every fiber of its being was inviting him to partake. Holding the card close to his unbeating heart the Dark King closed his eyes and, in a rare moment of total humility, whispered, "Take me."

The effect was instantaneous. From the very core of the Earthbound God massive torrents of violet flame erupted forth until they swallowed Jack Atlas whole, transforming into a pillar of dark light that pierced the very air about the temple. The temple itself began to crumble, the rubble cascading in droves before dissolving upon impact with the ruins of Goodwin's complex. Jack could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing but the negative energy now searing throughout every inch of his deceased flesh. The sensation he was now experiencing felt somewhat akin to having foot-long nails jabbed into his skin from every angle, and it took all of his self-control not to break down screaming. The pain continued unabated for several more moments before, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

The ebony eyes of Carly Nagisa widened to their fullest extent as Jack Atlas descended slowly to Earth, minor wisps of violet energy continuing to burst forth from his head and torso as the condor placed the finishing touches on its new avatar. With a trace of embarrassment Carly noticed that the Dark King was completely naked, the purple inferno having burned away all traces of his signature trench coat. As such the condor birthmark was now resplendently in view, blazing fiercely across Jack's bare chest, but even as Carly took in this magnificent sight a new coat seemed to materialize out of the darkness itself, wrapping itself around its master with a sinful caress. Jack was slowly revolving in place as he descended, allowing the Dark Queen to observe the robe in lurid detail. It was remarkably similar to his old one, in fact, but where it was formerly white it was now pitch-dark, the vivid blue highlights now rendered a royal violet. The texture of the coat also appeared to be slightly different, less stiff and more flexible as it billowed in the wind, folding and collapsing as the Dark King finally touched down onto the Earthly plane.

As Jack's empty eyes fluttered open once more, Carly seized the opportunity to take in a few other nuances to his changed appearance. She was pleased to see that a ritual mark now adorned his face, a sign that he had truly been chosen by a Jibakushin rather than just tagged-on at her request. As with her own mark, complex line patterns had been eschewed for a single fleck of a tattoo, embedded in the Dark King's forehead like a third eye. Echoes of Rudger, the previous fallen Signer, appeared across Jack's visage now; his hair was a shade lighter and his skin a shade darker, and it did not seem unlikely to Carly that over the years these similarities to Uru's host might deepen. At present, though, Carly found herself enjoying the effect – it made Jack look…distinguished. But no alteration was more startling (or, frankly, more alluring) than the extra appendages now protruding from the Dark King's back.

Now extended to their fullest lengths were two massive wings, jutting out from beneath Jack's shoulder blades and swaying just slightly in the light breeze. The wings were quite clearly modeled after his Jibakushin's – black as coal, but with violet edges adorning every individual feather. To say that Jack looked like a dark angel might seem a cliché, but there were no two ways about it; that was _exactly_ was the Dark King now resembled. And furthermore, he was _her_ dark angel…an evil God descended from on-high to bring Hell unto Earth, and to rule it by her side for all eternity.

"Carly…" Jack murmured, his voice an octave lower than Carly remembered it. "Carly, don't you feel it? It's wonderful! All this power…I never dreamed it might feel like this!" Pitching his head back, he let loose a sharp, cold laugh. "Nothing can stop me now! The strongest Jibakushin and I are one, the true High Ruler of Hell – the Dark King!"

A second later the Dark Signers were kissing, embracing, caressing, running their hands up and down each others' forms in a passionate fever that bypassed thought. This was not the first time that the throes of amour had seized the couple so suddenly, but instinctively both knew that this moment would lead to something greater. Wordlessly Jack enveloped them both, as well as their D-Wheels, with his enormous wings, the mark on his chest shining brilliantly before the pair disappeared, their lips still pressed firmly together. Though he had never attempted teleportation before, there was no doubt in the Dark King's mind that he would succeed in this endeavor; through feelings if not through words the condor was guiding him every step of the way, content enough to have a host with power to match its own that it was willing to permit this…digression.

An instant later the pair was kissing madly within the confines of the Dark Signers' headquarters. Carly dimly recognized that they were in the halls in which the messengers of the dead resided when not bringing about their objectives of world domination, but they were at an end of the hall quite a bit farther than she had ever thought to explore. Their stunted and erratic movements soon led them to an impressive but sparsely lit set of double doors, composed entirely of black marble inlaid at various points with amethysts sized like eggs. Inscribed upon the doorway was the sign of Wiraqocha Rasca, and Carly realized with a jolt that this was the room reserved for the true destined leader of the Dark Signers, if and when he should finally appear. The Dark Queen released Jack for a moment so that he could display his chest proudly to the door and bid it open. No one needed to explain procedures like this to him; it was if he had always known, deep inside, and the faint voice of the condor Jibakushin was simply pointing him in the right direction.

With a single flash of violet light from his mark the doors began to slowly part, revealing an entryway to the most luxurious bedchamber that either Jack or Carly had ever witnessed. Here, finally, was a room fit for a King. Not only was it easily twice as large as Carly's already-impressive quarters, but it was better furnished as well, with scenery that could easily have been lifted from a Victorian castle. And at the center of it all, framed by the pale light of the full moon, was a lavish bed, one that seemed to be beckoning to the Dark Signers to utilize it to its fullest and finally break down the last remaining barriers between them.

Jack, for his part, found himself unable to wait any longer. As the Dark King he _took_ what he wanted, and the thing he wanted right now was to unite with Carly in the one way that they had never attempted before. Still, he was not the type of man who would move without first knowing that he had his love's consent, but thanks to their pseudo-psychic link that was not an issue. Through the emotions she was now broadcasting to him he could tell that she wanted him at least as much, if not more so, as he wanted her, and so with a wild, animalistic cry he began to tear off every shred of clothing that currently separated them. They were united in mind and soul; all that remained was to unite in body as well.

For the next several hours, the air surrounding the B.A.D. area of Satellite was seized quite violently by the distinct sounds of a couple engaged in the throes of erotic passion.

[--------------------]

Millions of yen cascaded from the trees around him, but Tetsu Ushio paid them no attention.

While he would quite readily admit that being challenged to that "game" by Yugi Mutou was the single greatest thing ever to happen in his life (except possibly for meeting Mikage-san for the first time), it didn't change his resentment of the penalty that he had accrued as a result of it. While he acknowledged that at the time the punishment of his avarice had been more than justified, he liked to think that he had made some decent progress over the past twenty-eight years, and that it would be rather nice if the spiky-haired duelist would take notice of that and grant him a reprieve from this rather irritating curse. If, of course, he was even still alive. Given that the young man had disappeared from public life more than ten years ago, Ushio really couldn't be quite sure.

Constantly being under the delusion that every single stray leaf or piece of debris was in fact precious money had lost him everything he had had as a young man, but given where his...proclivities had been leading him at that point in his life, Ushio certainly wasn't counting that as a loss. A potent example was the time that he had attempted to pay his drug dealer with some old bottle caps, an action that got him banned from every underground "entrepreneur" in Domino and thus that led to an extended period of very involuntary sobriety. Furthermore his frequent feverish scrambles for some random piece of garbage that only he could perceive as gold had lost him every iota of his reputation at school, with even normally obsequious guys like Hanasaki refusing to back down from his stare. The humbling that followed had ultimately been highly therapeutic, especially when combined with the aforementioned forced detox.

Still it _would_ be nice to, just once, not have to pass by spare change on the street because he was unable to trust his eyes.

"Yen for your thoughts?" rang a familiar voice from behind the Security Officer.

"Not funny, Yusei," Ushio answered bitterly. "Although I suppose you wouldn't really understand the joke."

Yusei looked for a moment like he was going to comment on this cryptic remark before he apparently thought better and shrugged it off. "Look," he began, "I realized a little while ago that the two of us never really got a chance to…clear the air. And since you're a Signer now, I'm thinking that this is probably as good a time as any to do so."

"Oh, yeah, right…" Ushio mumbled. He had been ignoring the mark now burned into his right arm for the past hour or so (with limited success), and being reminded of the status and responsibilities that came with it was not exactly putting his already restless mind at ease. Especially when he was simultaneously being reminded of the shitty way he had treated Yusei in the past…and by "in the past," of course, he really meant "yesterday."

"I'll, err, get things started then," Yusei opened awkwardly. "I guess I'd like to start by saying that I'm sorry."

Ushio's attention perked up at this. This was _not_ what he had been expecting.

"And the reason I'm sorry," Yusei continued unabated, evidently anticipating Ushio's confusion, "is that I've realized that I misjudged you when we first met."

"What do you mean?" Ushio blurted out.

"The animosity between Security and the denizens of Satellite has always gone both ways, to a degree," Yusei explained. "Before I met you, the only first-hand experience I had ever had with Security was a squad taking one of my best friends away from me and locking him up forever. I'll admit it readily – I was prejudiced. It may not have been the kind of prejudice that inspires violence or slurs, but it was prejudice all the same. It was subtle but insidious, the sort of mindset that blurs the lines between members of a group of people until they all look exactly the same. I'm ashamed to say that after our first…encounter, I couldn't even really remember what you looked like. All I saw was that uniform, and that badge. But then," he added, "something changed."

"What?" Ushio asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"I saw you with Takya yesterday," Yusei answered. "I've known that boy for over five years, and I've _never_ seen him that happy. Did you know that after his father died, Takya swore that he would never smile again? It took nearly a week before Martha could even get him to eat. And yet there he was last night, practically skipping around the orphanage because he had met his hero. It reminded me that like any other organization, Security is made up of both good and bad men. And it made me realize that you're one of the good ones."

"So I let the kid follow me around a bit," Ushio mumbled. "It doesn't change anything."

"It definitely changes how I see you, Ushio," Yusei insisted. "Because honestly, I think that Security must be a pretty damn awful job. Long hours, low pay, not a whole lot of glamour…and as a low-level street patrol Officer, I figure that there aren't too many opportunities for advancement, either. So why do you do it?"

Ushio could tell that Yusei was being rhetorical, but he had no idea what answer the teenager wanted, so he settled for the truth. "To protect and serve," he said finally.

"Exactly," Yusei replied with a smile. "When I saw you save Takya during my first duel with Rudger, I finally got a real measure of the type of man you are. If there's someone that you can help, that you can protect, then Heaven help anyone who gets in the way of you doing so. It's the reason why you took the job of Security Officer…the reason why you saved Takya last night…and the reason why you saved Dr. Schmitt just now."

"Oh, that," Ushio murmured, turning away from Yusei. "That was nothing. Anyone would have done it…"

"No, they wouldn't," Yusei rejoined sternly. "When it comes to saving someone's life – not just talking about it, but _really_ reacting at that critical moment – the average person is a whole lot more reticent than you'd think. I think that it's fear, most of all…the fear that you might fail the person you're trying to save, that you might even hurt them worse. It takes a lot of courage to get past that, and you've got it."

Ushio said nothing, but continued to attempt to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"There's something else, too," Yusei went on. "I overheard Rua talking with Takya after they finished eating dinner. Rua was saying that he understood now why Takya wanted to be Security, after seeing 'Ushio-san' and his 'kick-ass ninja moves.' That caught my attention, and not just because it may well have been the first time that I've ever heard Rua use an honorific. Through your example, two children with dramatically different backgrounds bonded over a shared dream." Yusei sighed and shook his head slightly before continuing, "I was in my own funk at the time, so I didn't really pay attention to the ramifications of that statement…until now. You saved Rua's life, didn't you?"

At last Ushio looked up and met Yusei's gaze, before responding with a simple, "Yes." The Security Officer swallowed deeply and began to elaborate. "You know that girl that was with Jack earlier, the other Dark Signer? Well when we went to find Jack earlier, we ran into her instead. And she made it pretty damn clear that she had no qualms about killing children, all because Ruka was a Signer. But I managed to tackle her, and Ruka used some sort of weird Signer magic to keep her down for a little while. The three of us only _just_ managed to get away."

Yusei nodded appreciatively. "That settles it, then," he declared. "You know, I've had this theory for a while now – that each Signer birthmark is tied to a specific role in the forces of the Crimson Dragon." Yusei paused to roll back his sleeve and display the head of the Akaki Ryu demonstratively. "For example, the head mark seems to represent the leader of the current generation of Signers. It was originally destined to be Rudger, but after his fall it eventually moved on to me.

"Your mark, meanwhile, seems to represent the role of the protector," Yusei went on. "The tail of the Akaki Ryu guards the whole with both incredible tenderness and unrestrained ferocity, whichever is needed at the time. Its influence purifies those parts of the Crimson Dragon that may have temporarily lost their way, sheltering them from those that might bring them harm while simultaneously striking back at their enemies with whatever force is necessary. At one point, that was my task. But as of today the position passes to you, and honestly I can think of no one better for it."

Finally Ushio could stand it no longer. This unending praise, far from lifting his spirits, was making him feel even emptier than he had before Yusei had shown up, because the Security Officer knew quite well that he didn't deserve it. "I'm sorry, Yusei, but you're wrong," he stated firmly. "I protect the innocent because it's the only way I can feel even remotely good about myself, not because it's my 'mystic role' or whatever."

Yusei opened his mouth to protest this point, but Ushio cut him off. "Pretty much all the 'heroics' you've mentioned so far happened within the last twenty-four hours. Have you stopped to give any thought to what kind of guy I was _before_ met you, Yusei? I was a pretty fucked up kid, you know. Take a runaway dad, throw in a mom so thoroughly addicted to heroin that she didn't even know I was there half the time, and add just a pinch of local dealers who got me hooked on three different illicit drugs by the age of nine…then try and imagine the _worst_ possible guy that could result from that, and you've got me at seventeen.

"I was a fucking sadistic bully for more years than I can count, and not just the 'pick on you and take your lunch money' kind of bully," Ushio raved, clearly furious at himself. "No, I was the 'beat you within an inch of your life and threaten you with a knife unless you pay me two-month's salary' kind." Ushio released a low cry and angrily kicked a small rock into the trees nearby. It clattered loudly as it bounced along other stones before disappearing from view. "Eventually, someone got me to finally get my act together, but by then it was too late. In the mirror I saw the truest depths of human depravity, and I hated it to my core. I hated _myself_ to my core. Everything I've done since then – joining Security, saving lives, trying to pitch in with the War with the Dark Signers – has just been my meager attempt to transform my reflection into something that doesn't immediately make me want to vomit. You seem to think I've succeeded, but I sure as Hell don't agree."

"And why not?" Yusei asked pointedly, taking advantage of the momentary pause in Ushio's self-immolating rant.

"The way I've been treating you is just one example," Ushio argued. "You call _yourself_ prejudiced? Shit, I've been calling you 'Satellite scum' since pretty much the moment we met! I hated you from the very instant that I laid eyes on you, just because you happened to be residing in a slum. And not only do I realize now that that prejudice was moronic beyond belief, but I also end up learning that you aren't even _from_ Satellite! Do you realize how stupid that makes me feel?"

Yusei wearily covered his face with his hands, apparently steeling himself for something. "Look, I'm not going to dispute any of what you just said. Yeah, you were a jerk to me for most of the time we've known each other. Yeah, you were even more of a jerk when you were my age. But is any of that still true now?" Yusei left the question hanging in the air, unanswered, for a few moments before adding, "Self-reflection is hard. You need to not be afraid to see the bare and ugly truth, but you _also_ need to be willing to accept the good that comes with it. Maybe when you do, you'll stop beating yourself up so much and realize just how much progress you've made in your lifetime."

Yusei reached into his pocket and removed something, keeping his hands cupped around it so that Ushio could not see. Slowly the Signer leader approached the Security Officer with short but purposeful steps, saying, "I'm going to be leaving Satellite for a little while. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but I don't think it should last any longer than two or three days. I'm going to trust you and Crow with taking care of everyone here while I'm gone. And this should, hopefully, help you do it." Firmly Yusei placed the object in Ushio's palm, closing the Officer's hand around it and stepping back. "Goodbye for now, Ushio-san."

And with that, Yusei Fudo turned his back on Tetsu Ushio and disappeared into the dense forest surrounding the clearing. Ushio made to follow the teenager, but by the time he reached the trees through which Yusei had vanished the boy was gone without a trace.

Turning his gaze to the item now resting in his fist, Ushio observed with astonishment a blindingly white card with which the Security Officer was intimately familiar…a Synchro Monster entitled _Stardust Dragon_.

For the first time in nearly thirty years, Tetsu Ushio looked around at the falling leaves surrounding him and thought he could see them for what they truly were: not money, but something infinitely more beautiful.

[--------------------]

"_Trap Card, open!" Carly cried. "Yes…Trap Card, _Prophecy of the Future King_!" With immense satisfaction she revealed the card that had finally shown her the deepest truth, at a time that simultaneously felt so long ago and yet so recent. The Hikari no Yami flowed freely through its cardboard vessel, freezing Jack's mind in an illusion that she could not see, but it mattered not. Whatever Jack was now experiencing would hold him for the next few moments, and that was all that she needed._

"_When I chose this card, I was able to understand everything," she explained to Jack's motionless form. Before she killed him, she wanted him to understand why it could be no other way. "Why I became a Dark Signer…what I would gain by fighting you…everything was so that we could be together in the future." Gesturing magnanimously toward her Trap Card, she declared, "I activate the effect of _Prophecy of the Future King_! A monster that's destroyed a monster through battle can attack a second time! Cursed Skewer!"_

_At her mistress' command _Fortune Lady Earthy_ twirled her staff dangerously before slamming it to the ground, willing the barren stone to rise up in the form of jagged spikes and impale the former King of Riding Duels with all their might. "Let's go, Jack! To our future!" Carly shouted passionately. A small part of her was still nervous about this move – after all, Jack still had one Set card left on his field – but she needn't have worried. The massive thorns of Earth met their mark beautifully, and although Carly was somewhat sad to see her love's body mutilated in such a manner she knew that it would not last much longer. In just a few moments Aslla piscu would resurrect Jack as the Dark King, just as the God had promised, and then everything would be right again…_

_The next few moments of intense emotion passed through in a blur. In a strangely detached manner Carly felt herself experience disbelief, and satisfaction, and pain, and despair, and fury, and finally a profound sense of unbridled gratitude toward the God who had, ultimately, delivered on its word. She heard herself sooth the awakening Jack and bestow upon him his new title, and she saw herself pulling him close as the overpowering beckoning of slumber washed over her as well. As her ebony eyes closed in repost, she absently began to stroke the face of her beloved, her touch light as air…_

[--------------------]

Something was stroking Carly's face, its touch light as air as it coaxed her softly from her dream. Opening her eyes just a sliver Carly observed her Dark King smiling over her, caressing her pale cheeks with the tip of one of his new wings. Her mental faculties rapidly returned to her as she realized that she was tucked firmly into the crook of his arm, her head resting comfortably across the mark upon his bare chest. A second later she remembered exactly what she had just _done_, and she was pleased to note that she did not feel the least bit embarrassed about it. Judging by his expression, Jack evidently felt no shame from the act, either. "Wow…" she murmured, just loud enough that her lover could hear. "Even in my deepest dreams, it didn't feel that good."

Jack allowed himself a low chuckle; in her previous life, Carly would have shot herself into the sun before admitting so bluntly that she had sexual fantasies about him. He much preferred it this way. Carefully he wrapped his right wing around his Dark Queen's naked form, its pitch-black feathers softening to the texture of fine silk at his unspoken bidding. Her eyelids closed again for a moment as she snuggled next to him, muttering, "By Aslla piscu, I love these wings. They're so…comforting."

"Really?" Jack questioned, his features betraying just the very barest hint of insecurity. "Honestly, I was a bit worried about how you would react to them. I can't deny their practicability, but they are a bit…much…"

"There is _nothing_ about you that I couldn't possibly love. Never forget that," Carly replied seriously. "And besides, they make you appear…refined. Like the finished form of a work of art."

Jack smiled appreciatively and kissed Carly's forehead lightly. "Wiraqocha Rasca told me that it was giving me these to offer a tactical advantage in battle…but I think that I have a better idea," Jack whispered, a slight grin spreading across his face. "As soon as I get used to them, I'm going to take you flying around Satellite. We haven't really had a genuine date since that day at the amusement park, and I fully intend to rectify that issue."

"I think I'd like that," Carly stated serenely, before turning her attention to more serious matters. "Did the condor mention anything else of interest when you were transforming?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Jack answered. "In all the excitement, I forgot to mention what my Jibakushin told me with regards to our dear friend Goodwin. Apparently the Underworld needed a bit of time to…err…digest him, so to speak. As such, the doors that separate the realms of the living and the dead shall open at sundown tonight." Jack paused to indulge in a hearty maniacal laugh. "For all the Signers' efforts, in the end they only delayed the world's demise by twenty-four hours!"

"Sundown?" Carly repeated excitedly, tapping into her Dark Signer senses to check the time. "That's leaves us…let's see…just over three hours. What do you propose we do until then?"

"I can think of a few things," Jack answered slyly. Carly returned his gleeful smirk and eagerly readied herself for an encore performance.

[--------------------]

Yusei appeared with a flash of crimson light in his gang's old hideout, wiping the sweat from his brow as he did so. Utilizing the teleportation ability that his father had temporarily bestowed upon him had turned out to be fairly intuitive – all that was required was for him to picture a destination in his mind's eye and place his palm over his birthmark – but that didn't make the process any less taxing on his body. A few practice jumps around the forest after his little "chat" with Ushio had been necessary in order to get him comfortable enough with the technique, but the end result of so much activity was that he was now finding it rather difficult to move.

Fortunately Goodwin's agents appeared not to have disturbed the place too much when they kidnapped Yusei's friends, and so it didn't take too long to locate some food and water. The provisions available in their barely functioning refrigerator weren't anywhere near up to the standards of Martha's cooking, but they would do for now. Chewing on an improvised sandwich thoughtfully, Yusei began to ponder his next move.

His father's spirit had provided him with two clear courses of action that he could execute: researching this "Carly Nagisa" that Jack was consorting with, and locating the two cards that represented the body and the soul of the Fifth Dragon, wherever they existed in the world. Yusei weighed his options before concluding that while he could conduct the research at any time that he had access to a computer, this teleportation ability was only going to last him a single day. As such, it made more sense to pursue the more difficult task right now, while he still had the advantage of unlimited mobility.

Even with that ability, however, the prospect was quite daunting. According to his father the body of the Fifth Dragon had been "sealed in steel" and released to the public, just like every Signer Dragon other than Ancient Fairy Dragon had been. Tracking that card down could take weeks, if not months…if it was even possible at all. Then again, Stardust Dragon, Red Dæmon's Dragon, and Black Rose Dragon had all reached their chosen Signers through what appeared to be sheer luck, although Yusei was quite sure that his father would say that it was destiny. Either way, Yusei had a strong feeling that it he remained passive on that front, there was a good chance that fate might smile upon him and lead the card to his hand, somehow.

The soul of the Fifth Dragon was a different story entirely. His father had screamed with his last words on Earth that Yliaster had stolen the card representing it some time ago, meaning that it was probably fairly unlikely to just fall into his lap. Ultimately this was the quest for which he would need to be the most proactive, and so it made sense that he pursue it now. But what should he do? Questioning a member of Yliaster would seem like the most logical course of action, but that was easier said than done. The only Yliaster member that Yusei knew of personally was Goodwin, but if what his father said was true then the man wasn't exactly in the right state to be questioned anymore. Still, perhaps he might learn something by poking around his office, up at the Public Security Maintenance Bureau in the city…

Yusei began to hastily throw together a simple travel knapsack; he didn't know when he would next be able to re-supply himself, after all. Once he was satisfied with his preparations, he took a deep breath as he gathered his strength and focused with all of his might on the upper floor of the Bureau, where Jaeger had led him once to speak with Goodwin following his win at the Fortune Cup. Then, with a colossal burst of energy from his birthmark, Yusei transported every particle in his body directly into the heart of Neo Domino City.

[--------------------]

Jaeger Dokeshi was, to put it mildly, rather distressed. A less charitable description might be to say that the jester-like Vice Director was having a nervous breakdown.

Jaeger had not been expecting for Rex Goodwin to return from his confrontation with his brother, apparently unscathed; his superiors at Yliaster had assured him that the Director would most certainly perish during the encounter, and all of his plans had been centered on the veracity of that prediction.

But Rex had seemed perfectly fine to him, not withstanding his changed attitude. As the Director's permanent second-fiddle, Jaeger knew Rex Goodwin better than about anyone else in the world, and so it was not hard for him to notice the distant look in the silver-haired man's eye, or the way that he absentmindedly stroked his back as he spoke. The Director's orders too, had been quite peculiar; Rex would be returning to his home to "take care of some unfinished business" for an unspecified period of time, and Jaeger was to take care of any issues that might arise with Security while he was away. The fact that Jaeger was being placed temporarily in charge was not all-too surprising – he was, after all, the Vice Director – but Rex usually kept him in the loop on these sorts of matters, and the fact that he had refused to elaborate about the nature of his "business" was not placing Jaeger in a particularly comfortable state of mind.

Of course, his _current_ panic had only slightly little to do with Goodwin, and far more to do with the fact that an all-new geoglyph had appeared in the sky above Neo Domino last night. Once again his mysterious bosses had proven to be horribly mistaken, given that they had informed him quite decisively that all the Dark Signers had been taken care of by sundown yesterday. So needless to say, the appearance of a new Jibakushin (and the absorption of a few hundred more civilians into its immortal form) had broken the already fragile strands of Jaeger's composure. The summoner of the immense condor, their opponent, and the reasons for the duel that had taken place between them all remained a mystery to the Vice Director, and trying to put together a halfway decent story to tell the press when they would inevitably begin hounding him had been driving him up the wall for the past several hours.

It was at times like these that he began to doubt whether his low-level membership in Yliaster was really worth the sheer amount of chaos that it brought into his life. But even if he _did_ fancy relinquishing his meager authority and retiring quietly with his family, one couldn't exactly file a letter of resignation with the most powerful organization on Earth. At one of the group's annual meetings a fellow bottom-rank member had related the tale of a man who had once tried to abandon Yliaster in the middle of a particularly distressing mission. It had been a very short story.

Jaeger was interrupted in his reminiscence as a gloved hand grabbed him roughly by the neck and slammed him into the wall nearest the window. His senses completely disoriented from the impact, Jaeger struggled for a moment before regaining enough of his sight to realize that he was being held quite firmly by Yusei Fudo, who was regarding him with the sternest of glares.

"Now that I think of it," the boy declared, "I'm betting that Goodwin _wasn't_ the only member of Yliaster ever to set foot in this room. You're one of them too, aren't you, clown?"

"Ugh…" Jaeger grunted, attempting in vain to struggle against Yusei's grip. "I…I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Right, and I'm Princess Mononoke," Yusei replied sarcastically. "If you're going to lie to my face, at least have some talent for it." The Signer paused to grab Goodwin's chair with his other hand and with one swift move, he used it to shatter the glass of his office window. Sharp winds began to rush into the room, and above their din Yusei yelled, "Maybe this will get you in a better mood for talking!"

In an instant Jaeger was being suspended over sixty stories above the ground, with only the light air separating them from collision. The Vice Director made the grave mistake of taking a glance downward, and now he was screaming his lungs out. "Please…no! I have a wife and a kid!" he cried, fishing in his pocket for a photograph of a pair of petite figures who were wearing make-up to match his. Yusei had just long enough to grow queasy at this garish sight before the strong winds caught the picture in their grasp and carried it far away from its owner. His eyes wide in terror, Jaeger added, "I'll…I'll tell you whatever you want! Just let…me…down!"

"Fine," Yusei said with an air of finality, and with an unsympathetic motion he tugged the Vice Director back into Goodwin's office and threw him down to the ground, placing his foot across the man's chest so he could not escape. The Signer leader waited for a moment for Jaeger to calm down from the threat on his life before demanding, "Tell me where I can find the card that represents the soul of the Fifth Dragon. And no more games, or I'm going to reunite you with the cool outdoor breeze…with a less firm grip this time."

Jaeger's eyes darted back and forth across the room, apparently searching for some way out of this. To Yusei's satisfaction the Vice Director's face finally took on an expression of defeat, and in a low murmur he said, "Look, I'm a very low-ranking member. I can't tell you much."

"Tell me what you can, then," Yusei responded, his voice hard.

"Err…the exact details are something that you could only find out from one of the upper-echelon members, but I know that the card you're talking about was originally in the possession of a family of French gaming magnates," Jaeger stammered in a high, fast voice. "KaibaCorp, under the direction of Yliaster, attempted to extort the card from them by buying out their company. When that didn't work, they resorted to more…direct methods."

Yusei's eyes widened in shock, but he said nothing. Drawing a deep breath, Jaeger continued, "After murdering the man and woman of the household, the agents of Yliaster searched their mansion up-and-down for the card, but they found nothing. The Yliaster leadership surmised that their daughter, who had escaped in the crossfire, has the card in her possession. Yliaster has been searching for her in vain for twelve years; she's considered one of our highest-value targets."

"What is this girl's name?" Yusei asked, his brain rapidly processing this radical new information.

"Sherry Leblanc," he recited promptly. "Her parents were Louie and Ana Leblanc, of Leblanc Gaming International. And that's all I know, I swear!"

"Very well, then," Yusei stated, lifting his boot off of Jaeger's form and allowing him to stand. Then, without another word, he turned around and exited the office, leaving Jaeger to ponder the ramifications of just how much sensitive information he had just revealed.

Maybe retiring from this business wouldn't be such a bad idea, after all.

[--------------------]

At last, Yusei had an answer that he could physically act upon. Now he had a clear goal: go to France and try and track down this "Sherry" girl. There was no guarantee that he would be able to find her, but as long as he had the ability to travel halfway across the globe instantaneously he figured that it couldn't hurt to try. Satisfied with this course of action he ducked into a men's restroom across the hall; he would rather not have any witnesses to his usage of his teleportation powers.

In his haste to avoid being seen, Yusei failed to notice a portly custodian traveling as quickly as possible down the opposite end of the hall. Or he was _dressed_ as a custodian, at least; he found that this disguise helped him get into quite a few places that he really shouldn't be, allowing him to gather the kind of juicy information that got one ahead in the Domino underground. And while he could think of no _immediate_ applications for the conversation that he had just overheard, he was sure that he would think of something eventually. He had always had a real knack for that.

[--------------------]

Jack had always heard that the process of lovemaking often left one mentally and physically exhausted. This might be true for living humans, for all he knew, but in his case the couple's second "encounter" had only left him feeling even more invigorated.

Turning to the gorgeous woman who was lying next to him and contenting herself with silently regarding his features, Jack was seized by the irresistible urge to do something for her. Something massive, something groundbreaking, something to prove the sheer magnitude of his love for her…

Finally, he had it. Wordlessly he coaxed Carly to a standing position with his right arm and wing before kneeling at her feet and concentrating with all his might on the space above his palm. Conjuring objects was about the most difficult application of his Dark Signer powers, but although he was still fairly new to them his confidence was at its absolute maximum, and in any event this was a rather small object anyway. "Carly, I feel somewhat like we did this out of order, and so I'm going to fix that," he began, his violet eyes boring into hers. "Before I met you, romance was the kind of thing that I just didn't give a spare thought to. Oh, there were quite a few women that _tried_ to catch my eye, at Goodwin's little parties and galas, but I rebuffed every single one of them. Never in my life did I _ever_ expect to get down on one knee and ask this question…until now. And so, Carly Nagisa, I humbly ask you to consent to becoming my Dark Queen, my lady, and my wife, for now and forevermore. Carly," he declared magnanimously, the small metal object on which he had been concentrating finally popping into existence in his hand, "will you marry me?"

Carly responded by crashing her lips into his, embracing him tightly both with her mouth and with her body. "Of course," she gasped as she finally released Jack, turning her gaze to the ring that he had created out of thin air.

It was a magnificent thing. The metal appeared to be a darkened silver, with an enormous pure black diamond resting at its peak. Set around the diamond were a multitude of dazzling amethysts and sharp gemstones of amber, the colors of their respective Jibakushin contrasting beautifully. Looking carefully, Carly saw that each amber jewel was encapsulating a tiny feather; the kind that might come from the wings of a hummingbird.

"Do you like it?" Jack asked softly.

"Does this answer your question?" Carly rejoined cheerfully, placing the ornament around her ring finger and smiling radiantly. "There…a perfect fit."

"Would you…err…like to hold a wedding of some sort?" Jack added. He wasn't really all-too familiar with the _normal_ procedures that an engaged couple followed in this situation, much less what the dead were supposed to do.

"By tomorrow, you'll be King of the entire world," Carly answered teasingly. "Who would need to officiate?"

Jack was about to respond to this before a massive earthquake rocked the Dark Signers' headquarters. Feeling around with his senses confirmed his suspicions; sundown had just arrived. "Well, we should at least have a honeymoon…" he suggested with a manic grin. "And I think that I have the perfect destination in mind."

"Hell?" Carly replied, answering his smile sinisterly. "I thought you'd never ask."

And so, arm-in-arm, husband and wife proceeded down to the old Momentum reactor, where the King of the Underworld was just now pushing its way into a brave new world, ready to devour it whole.

[--------------------]

A/N: So…err…how's it going, everyone? Did y'all miss me? Heh heh heh…yeah.

I apologize profusely for the length of time that it took to get this chapter out to you guys, especially given what great readers you are, and I just hope that its quality overpowers any desire you might have to burn me at the stake. o_O

I do have some amount of explanation for my month-long absence, however. As I informed you all after Chapter 2, you can expect updates to slow to a crawl around the midterms/finals seasons, and that is exactly what happened; I was so swamped for the two weeks following the release of Chapter 7 that I got virtually no writing done.

I did, however, manage to put out my first one-shot right after midterms ended ("Memory"), reasoning that it would be easier to push out a single 5-page story than a 20-page chapter when my writing time was severely limited. For everyone that checked it out, I thank you. For any of my regular readers who haven't seen it yet, I highly encourage you to do so; it should give you some idea of how I like to handle the canon universe, as opposed to the AU that I've created here. I can guarantee that more one-shots like it will be coming in the near future.

In any event, following this came Spring Break. Perfect time to get some decent writing done, right? Unfortunately not. Almost as soon as I arrived back home in Hawaii I was besieged by a severe case of the flu (or a bad cold, at least), which left me not so much in the mood for serious writing. I got a few pages of the story done there, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. So, putting together my sickness-dominated Spring Break and travel time, that was another two-weeks' progress lost.

And of course, classes started up again in earnest pretty much as soon as I touched pavement back here in California. It was only through some _serious_ work these past three days that I've managed to complete this thing, and I'm quite relieved to finally have it past me.

On a much brighter note, it's time to give some well-deserved shout-outs to my loyal readers! We had a record-breaking 13 reviews for the last chapter, which made me very, very, _very_ happy (your reviews and praise tend to make me feel quite guilty for not updating, and that guilt is a surefire way to get me writing again). So massive kudo-cookies all around to KaliAnn, The Cobalt Rose, Zaconator and Zackis, KnightxXxWitch, blue-espeon, Xoroth, Sara Crewe, Cap'n Sanji, Leonite the red ranger, Ray, everyones a critc, Hyrulian Hero Akai, and the unbelievably incredible orangerebellion for their thoughts, concerns, and massively ego-boosting praise. ;)

I also received quite a few questions and such from this batch of reviews, and I'd like to respond to them individually…

**Zaconator and Zackis:** Jack doesn't have a Jibakushin card with him when he duels Rex (Aslla piscu, as you might have surmised, isn't too fond of the Dark King and would not be willing to let him wield it in battle), and so while the idea of pitting the two Gods against each other was tempting I couldn't really do it at this point. But if it's _conflict_ between the Earthbound birds that you want, well then let's just say that you won't be disappointed…

**Sara Crewe:** Never mention Pokémon anywhere near one of my stories again…ever. :p

On a kinder note, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly pimp your YouTube channel (crazyotakuAiko105), since you've been so kind to my stories lately. I particularly encourage people to check out the "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" AMV, since it is dedicated to none other than yours truly.

**Cap'n Sanji:** While I'm trying my hands at FanFiction now, my main connection to Yu-Gi-Oh! is that I regularly answer rulings questions in the Pojo Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Q&A forum, along with various other talented rulings veterans. So I should certainly hope that there is "not a single error in the rules or play format," LOL.

As for your last statement, don't worry about it. Just review when you can, and enjoy this story at your leisure.

**Leonite the red ranger:** "Amethyst" is not only the name of a jewel but also the name of a shade of purple that approximately matches the color of said jewel. I used it because "Purple Archdæmon's Dragon" or "Violet Archdæmon's Dragon" just don't have the same ring to them. What can I say; I'm just a sucker for alliteration.

Your last question is an interesting one, and one that's going to be explored in-depth as this story progresses. The question of whether or not Jack and Carly will be redeemed, or even if they are still _capable_ of redemption, is central to their character arcs and, by extension, to the overall plot.

The particular example of the glasses, however, is moot at this point. As you'll notice in Chapter 1, Carly crushed them to dust before she revived Jack, so they won't be playing any further role in this universe.

**Hyrulian Hero Akai:** I have very different plans for Rua, ones that wouldn't really work if he became a Signer. I'll just leave it at that.

**orangerebellion: **First, I must note that I read your updated profile and enjoyed it thoroughly, particularly your new avatar, which is bloody _adorable_. You might notice that I had Jack kiss Carly on the forehead at one point in this chapter, as a small tribute to that cute little image. Just a small way to say thanks for your continually phenomenal reviews. :)

As for your main question, most of Jack's new cards come directly from the "Dark Counterparts" archetype that Konami has been releasing ever since the set _Phantom Darkness_; older cards from the game's earlier sets that have been visually corrupted by darkness. I thought they served as an effective metaphor for Jack's current situation, and besides that they're pretty damn cool. As such, Jack's _Fallen Deck_ was born.

Several other cards used in the duel are adapted from other sources; _Dazzling Radiance_ for example comes directly out of the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga, having originally been used by one of the final Card Professors. And of course, several of the cards featured are of my own design. I hope that y'all enjoyed them.

The stage is set, and all the major players are in position, for the ultimate shake-up of the world of the Dark King. Yusei's out of the country on a mission, leaving Jack with a golden opportunity to bring forth the glorious Age of Hell. The second act of the saga of the Dark King has started out at a breakneck pace, and things are only about to get more exciting from here. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 9: _Reign_.

– Masterdramon


	9. Reign

**My Dark King – Chapter 9: Reign**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

The shadows enveloped the two Dark Signers like an immense shroud as they exited Jack's quarters, their footsteps active with purposeful vigor. In a moment the pure darkness produced new garments across their bare forms to replace those that still lay sprawled across the Dark King's bedroom floor, but apart from a slightly curled lip on Carly's part they did not acknowledge this. They had much more important matters to attend to.

Proceeding to the Momentum chamber itself would be futile – as the epicenter of the current seismic cataclysm, it would be difficult for even a Dark Signer to enter it – and so without a word the Dark King flexed his wings as the pair approached their D-Wheels and enveloped them all, his birthmark set ablaze. In the next moment the Dark Signers were on the barren surface and mounting their motorcycles, glancing back briefly to the crater housing their headquarters in order to confirm the presence of a rapidly ascending mass of grayish slime within it. Satisfied for the moment, the Dark King and Queen revved their engines and shot forth to the top of a nearby hill, so as to have a better vantage point from which to observe the massive creature now emerging into the physical realm.

The amorphous goo burst out of the crater in torrents, twisting and bubbling as it interacted with the open air. Like a car crash or a fresh corpse, the sight could only be described as horrifying, and yet seemed to irrevocably draw every eye in the immediate vicinity. Of course, thanks to the two still-extant Jibakushin that small audience numbered only Jack Atlas and Carly Nagisa, but the King of the Underworld seemed determined to make a good show of its entrance regardless.

And make a good show it did. Tendrils of slime began to intertwine and meld into something akin to a body; first a set of titanic limbs, then a torso, and finally a strange, pulsating thing that could only be its head. Deep, pinkish eyes began to glow brilliantly from within previously empty sockets as the monstrous head convulsed violently, several horns and what appeared to be a beak spreading forth from the ooze. After a few minutes of this the slime began to settle for the most part, and out of its newly formed mouth the King of the Underworld let loose a Hellish screech. "Beautiful…" Carly muttered, and Jack could do nothing but nod in agreement.

Like a curious infant the King began to take timid, exploratory steps around the B.A.D. area, leaving behind large puddles of its dull goo wherever is stepped. As soon as the creature was apparently secure in its footing, however, it turned its massive body toward Jack and Carly and sank into an unmistakable bow.

Although Wiraqocha Rasca had informed Jack that this was what was going to happen, the sight of such a behemoth showing absolute deference to him still took the Dark King by surprise. He recovered quickly, however, and stepped forward to the edge of the cliff to address the monster. As the condor had explained, the King of the Underworld possessed nearly limitless power but lacked a mind to control it. Consequently, the King and the Jibakushin existed in a symbiotic relationship: the Earthbound Gods would channel the King's power as they saw fit, and in turn they would direct the nearly mindless creature as an aggregate. Being the avatar of one of the only two remaining Jibakushin therefore gave Jack total authority over the King's actions, and the Dark King grinned broadly as he watched the monster stare at him expectantly, patiently awaiting an order.

"Welcome to Earth, my King," Jack declared. If he was to continue the symbiosis that existed between the King of the Underworld and the Jibakushin, he thought it best that he retain some level of accordance between them, and terms of address seemed a good place to start. Rather than a God and a human or a master and a servant, he wanted as much as possible to frame his edicts as a discourse between kings; between equals.

"As you know, the goals of the Jibakushin within the physical realm are simple: to bring about Hell-on-Earth and end all life that ever was…or that ever will be," Jack continued in measured tones. Carly placed her hand on his shoulder encouragingly, and he smiled slightly as he went on, "Your immense power shall be most useful to us for this cause. While I and my fellow avatars of the dead have had some level of success spreading discord and chaos across this planet, my God and I believe that it is now time for us to apply more…direct methods. And it is for this reason that we have awakened you from your long dormancy in the Underworld and summoned you to the physical plane.

"Please, my King, I humbly beseech thee – go forth across this city and kill everything in your path!" Jack commanded. "All that is physical must be destroyed, all that is spiritual must be crushed; nothing must remain but death!" Jack paused for a moment of contemplation before adding, "However, I ask that you spare the Momentum reactor in the city. Secure it by all means, and cut off its connections to the rest of the city if you can, but do not destroy unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything else in Neo Domino is free to obliterate."

The King of the Underworld made no sound or gesture to indicate that it understood these directions, but rather seemed to simply radiate its feelings of satisfaction and anticipation directly into the Dark Signers' minds. As it began to turn its head toward the city, Jack was seized with one other small bit of inspiration. "With all due respect, I have one final request, your Excellency," he announced. "My Dark Queen and I must be prepared to rule this Hellscape once your beneficence brings it to fruition. To this end, we require workers, servants, guards…"

Jack could proceed no further before the puddles of slime that the King had left behind began to churn, specks of violet light bursting out of them at random intervals. In another moment strange, pale wraiths arose from the ooze in droves. The Dark King gleefully observed the army of thousands now lumbering toward his position, their emaciated faces pointed upward at their master with uniform expressions of utter obedience.

"We thank you graciously," Jack stated. With so many followers now at his beck and call, Jack thought it best to begin appropriating the royal first-person plural. "We bid you farewell for the moment, and we look forward to witnessing Neo Domino's demise. Please report back here once this task is completed." Jack completed his declaration with a formal bow, and the creature inclined its head low in response before setting off in the direction of Neo Domino City. With a smirk Jack realized that the path that the King of the Underworld was taking would lead it straight through Martha's orphanage on its way to the sea. If he was lucky, perhaps some of Yusei's allies might finally perish tonight. But in the meantime…

"Time to get to work," he told Carly, and she nodded as she took her position at his right hand and began to direct the zombies below.

[-]

In retrospect, heading to a country where he didn't know a single word of the local language _might_ not have been one of Yusei Fudo's better ideas.

Navigating the streets of Paris was difficult at best; the road signs were, of course, all in French, and in any event Yusei had nothing but Sherry's name and the name of her parents' company to go by. Asking for directions wasn't working much better; he had tried stopping a few people on the street, but unsurprisingly none of them had known any Japanese. Yusei certainly was no slouch linguistically – Martha had taught him a decent amount of English, as well as some Mandarin Chinese – but French was not a language he had ever given any thought to studying. How likely was it, after all, that a boy from the slums would ever wind up in the City of Lights?

At the very least however, what Yusei lacked in communicability he more than made up for in mobility. Taking a quick detour to Martha's place before teleporting to France had certainly been taxing on his already weakened body, but picking up his D-Wheel had definitely been worth the effort. He was just glad that no one had noticed him; he wanted to keep this operation as covert as possible until he actually located the cards he was searching for, and it wouldn't do to attract awkward questions about where he was going or how long he'd be gone. Since the truth was, after all, that he didn't know himself.

Which brought him to where he was now, shooting down a commercial district in Paris on his motorcycle and scanning the shops on either side for people that might be able to help him. Finding someone who spoke Japanese would take far too long to be feasible, but given the language's global saturation it was certainly possible that he might find someone who spoke English. His own English was fairly broken and out of practice from years of disuse, but he figured that he should at least be able to extract the most pertinent information for his mission if only he could find a patient enough guide.

Twenty minutes of fruitless searching passed before Yusei gazed with a smile upon a sign that he could actually read. The first line of the text was in French, but directly below it an English translation was provided: _Crimson Star Night School for English as a Second Language_.

Although the name was almost certainly a coincidence, Yusei chose to interpret it as a good omen; he certainly needed one at this point. While the attached schedule indicated that classes would not start for another ten hours or so, Yusei peered into the window of the establishment and saw a tall male receptionist in a hooded jacket taking careful notes as a young boy with long red hair spoke to him in a manner that reminded him of Rua's; full of overexcited chattering and wild gesticulation. Finally the child bowed himself out and pushed open the door, which Yusei promptly grabbed before it could swing shut. The Signer leader thought that he saw the boy staring at him strangely as he did so, but he supposed that with his D-Wheel, biker jacket, and…unusual hairstyle, he must be something of a sight around these parts.

Ignoring the child's increasingly obvious glare Yusei slipped into the office and walked over to the receptionist. A moment passed before the man noticed Yusei and looked up from his papers, his eyes (or eye, anyway; his hood appeared to be angled in such a way that it hid his right one) growing wide. The receptionist's brow furrowed in apparent irritation as he remarked, "Désolé monsieur, mais les cours ne commencerait pas pour neuf ou dix heures. Voulez-vous retourner plus en retard?"

Taken aback by the rapid French, Yusei took a deep breath and slowly enunciated, "No…I no…need…classes. Please…I talk…with teacher? I have…questions…" He winced, knowing that what he had just said hadn't been completely correct, but he hoped that the basic meaning had been imparted.

The receptionist stared at Yusei long and hard before pointing him toward a room to his immediate right. "Professor Carreras is in that room, preparing his lesson plans for tonight," he stated in cool, calm English. "I ask that you keep whatever questions you have brief and to the point. He is a very busy man."

A beat passed before Yusei remembered the correct English follow-up response. "…Thank you," he said quickly, before bowing and entering the doorway that the receptionist had indicated.

Inside Yusei found a sparse but clean and well-kempt classroom, with a set of spotless desks arranged in neat rows and facing a wall-length blackboard. The room's picture-perfect atmosphere was somewhat eerie, as if no students had ever used it, but the Signer leader reasoned that its occupants might simply be extremely well-behaved. This _was_ a night school, after all, so most of the students were likely to be of the older set.

"Admirez-vous la perfection?" sounded a deep, gruff voice, and Yusei jumped as he scanned the room before noticing a man in a large white coat sitting at one of the desks, scrutinizing a thick hardcover. The man blended in so thoroughly with his immaculate surroundings that Yusei had clearly missed him on his initial survey of the classroom, and it was somewhat unnerving to realize that he had been there all along, as silent and unmoving as everything else here. The fact that the man's cloak was drawn up so high that it hid his entire face from view, revealing nothing but a slender, flowing beard, did not help matters.

"I am…sorry," Yusei garbled, cursing his unbearably thick accent. "You are…Professor Car…Carrer…"

"Professor Carreras," the old man finished. He did not move at all from his position, but set aside his book and began to stroke his silvery beard absentmindedly. "I believe that I recognize your accent. You are from Japan, boy, are you not?" Yusei nodded, and in response the professor segued flawlessly into perfectly enunciated Japanese. "I shall speak to you in your mother tongue, then; I spent a certain amount of time in Japan long ago doing…research, and so I am quite familiar with the language. Now, how may I help you?"

Yusei was momentarily caught off guard by his good fortune, but recovered quickly. "Thank you, sir," he began in a polite but businesslike tone. "Do you know anything about a woman named Sherry Leblanc, or her family's company, Leblanc Gaming International?"

"I can't say that I've heard of the girl," Professor Carreras responded, "but the company is known to me. Once it was one of the crowning jewels of Paris' economy, until it was absorbed by the international conglomerate KaibaCorp. Quite a scandal that surrounded the event, too; the owners of the company, a married couple, were killed in a freak accident just a few days later. Funny how these things just seem to happen, don't they boy?" The man's tone was just as low and flat as before, but at this last question some minute change in his inflection was sending chills down Yusei's spine. He didn't think that he liked this man very much.

"Err…do you know where I might be able to find the old Leblanc Gaming International offices?" Yusei asked nervously. "Or the home of the Leblancs?"

"Their corporate headquarters was not too far from here, but after KaibaCorp bought them out the offices were torn down," Professor Carreras stated plainly. "As for the Leblancs' mansion, I believe that it still stands; property disputes prevented it from ever reaching the hands of another owner. I can provide you with the address, if you wish to make a visit."

"That would be excellent, sir," Yusei said anxiously as the professor extracted an aged pen and paper from within his robes, scrawling a few notes and handing them to the Signer leader with almost astonishing speed.

Yusei bid the man farewell and quickly bowed himself out, but before he reached the door the old man's wheezing voice rang out again. "And for what reason are you pursuing this line of inquiry, boy?" he called out, his voice carrying completely despite its low tone. "Is this a school project? Or perhaps you are a tourist searching for unusual sights? Please, humor an old man's curiosity."

"Nothing important, sir," Yusei answered without looking back. "Just something that I was wondering about." And with that Yusei sped out of the school, not bothering to glance back at the receptionist as he sprinted back toward his D-Wheel. He wasn't sure exactly _what_ was going on over there, but he didn't like it. Still, he had much more important matters to attend to at this point, and so it was probably best to simply forget about this place for now…even though he was quite certain that he had just missed something significant.

[-]

"And so you're telling me that he up and disappeared…just like that?" Crow cried incredulously.

Tetsu Ushio rubbed his temples vigorously as Takya entered the dining room and placed a cup of hot tea in front of his mentor. The Security Officer flashed a short smile to the child before replying, "Yeah, that's what I said. All Yusei told me was that he had something to do, and that you and I would be in charge until he came back. Then he gave me his Stardust Dragon and just left." Crow's eyebrows rose at this last detail, so Ushio fished through his pocket and flashed the Synchro Monster demonstratively.

"But…why?" Rua asked in a bewildered tone. "Why would he give away his most precious card?"

"Well, I don't think he means to give it to me permanently…" Ushio murmured. "I'm more just…err…borrowing it, I guess you could say. But as for _why_ he wanted me to have it, I really haven't a clue."

"I think that the more pressing question is where the fuck Yusei's gone off to!" Crow exclaimed. "He knows that we can't afford to lose another Signer right now! I mean, what the Hell was he thinking?"

"I think that we should just trust Yusei's judgment," Aki interjected, causing the collective attentions of the entire table to shift to her. After all, as far as anyone could tell, these were the first words that the psychic had uttered since they had arrived at Martha's. Aki shifted uncomfortably in her seat before continuing, "Look, Yusei's never steered us wrong before. Whatever he's off doing, if he thinks that it's important enough to justify his absence, then I'm guessing that he's probably right about that."

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point there," Crow acquiesced. "But in the meantime…what exactly are we supposed to do?"

"My gut tells me that Jack and that other Dark Signer girl are planning something," Ushio said. "Something big. Now that we know about them and what they're doing, they're going to want to make their first assault before we have the time to make ours. And since we currently lack the resources to execute a preemptive strike, we should probably focus our energies on preparing ourselves for that attack, whenever it comes."

Crow was about to offer a remark before the unmistakable scream of Mikage Sagiri sounded from the second floor. Unsurprisingly Ushio was the first person to tear up the stairs and into her room, with the remaining Signers and Rua bringing up the rear. "What is it, Mikage-san?" the Security Officer demanded frantically. Mikage simply paled and pointed out of her window, and as soon as the others cast their gazes to the area where she was indicating they understood quite thoroughly what had caused her to cry out.

Approaching rapidly from the west was a creature of unbelievable size and magnitude, larger even than any of the Earthbound Gods. Its form seemed to vaguely resemble a quadrupedal dragon, but rather than skin or scales the monster's body appeared to be composed of some sort of perpetually oozing slime, cast in a nauseating shade of gray. Mercifully the thing was still quite a distance away from the orphanage, but every single step it made brought it nearly a kilometer close to their location, and so by Crow's rough estimation they didn't have very much time at all before it would converge with their position.

And based on what was directly _beneath_ the creature, that wasn't good news. Every time that it brought down one of its massive feet the Earth below seemed to simply die; plants wilted, buildings crumbled, people that looked like ants from this distance were slaughtered by the dozens. And still the juggernaut of oblivion carried forward, killing everything in its past as it continued steadily toward Martha's home and, Crow realized with horror, to the city that lay on the other side of the building.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Rua screeched. "And how the fuck didn't we notice it until now?"

"Rua!" his sister cried automatically in response to his foul mouth, but she appeared to be pondering the same thing.

"I'm not sensing very much panic amongst the people who aren't in imminent danger," Aki answered, her face scrunched up tightly as she tapped into her powers. "Whatever that creature is, it must be using some kind of magic to mask certain elements of itself…like sound, for instance. So most people aren't noticing it until it's too late."

"Well, if we don't want to become members of that group," Crow began, "then we'd better get the Hell out of here!"

"Agreed," Ushio said, his voice switching to the tough, get-the-job-done tone that Crow figured he used in the field. "But where should we go?"

"It doesn't look like it's exactly heading for us; the angle's just slightly off," Crow pointed out. "I think that it's trying to get past us to the city. So if we drive off in the direction _away_ from the ocean, we might be able to avoid it in time."

"Do we even have enough cars for that?" Ushio inquired. "If we're evacuating the entire orphanage, then we're gonna need a lot more room than my jeep can provide."

"Dr. Schmitt's here, though, which probably means that he brought his medical van," Crow said. "If we dump all of the medical equipment and supplies, we should be able to transport everyone pretty easily."

"Alright, that works," Ushio admitted. "But back to my original question: where are we gonna go? We can't exactly keep driving forever in a couple of vans filled with children."

"I think that I can help with that," offered a voice from behind them, and the assembled group turned around to see Martha striding into the room. "Yes, I was eavesdropping," the matron added dismissively before returning the subject to business. "I have a friend off in the Kyojin district named Zora who has a fairly spacious apartment available…that might work as a temporary hide-out."

"Right, right…" Ushio murmured, still attempting to process this sudden shift of the paradigm. Looking around at the eyes now turned expectantly turned toward him, the Security Officer swallowed and began to hand out orders. "Rua, go and wake up Dr. Schmitt. Some of his equipment might need special handling, so I want him there when he move his stuff. Ruka, Martha, Mikage-san…" he blushed slightly as he directed her, but she did not object, "…you, err, need to gather everyone in the orphanage and get them out onto the front lawn as soon as possible. Aki, I need you to take point with your powers; set off a clear signal if the creature starts getting too close. Crow, you're with me; we'll be emptying the medical van once Dr. Schmitt gets there."

"No," Crow responded.

"What?" Ushio cried angrily. "I can't carry all that shit all by myself…"

"Look," Crow interjected, cutting across the burly man, "what if Aki does send up a signal? It won't be able to speed up the escape…not by enough to make any real difference, anyway. The only way to slow that thing down is to face it head-on; that might buy enough time for the rest of you to get to safety."

Ushio could see what Crow was driving at now, and he didn't like it. "Don't be an idiot, Crow!" he exclaimed vehemently. "You said it yourself – we can't afford to lose another Signer right now!"

"Don't worry about it," Crow rejoined, flashing a shadow of his trademark grin as he clutched his forearm, directly on the spot where the mark of the Akaki Ryu's wings now rested. "This bird's still got more than a few flights left in him."

"Well…if you're dead set on doing this thing…" Ushio muttered uncertainly, "then you should at least take this." The Security Officer dug into his pocket and once again displayed the Stardust Dragon he had received from Yusei, but Crow waved him away.

"No…Stardust needs to stay with the tail mark," Crow declared quietly but firmly, speaking from a part of his mind that was not completely his own. "I'll manage in my own way. I always do."

Martha stared at the headstrong teenager for a moment before rushing forward and embracing him tightly. "You be careful out there, you here me?" she demanded. "Or you'll have me to answer to when you come back."

"Right Martha, right…" Crow mumbled awkwardly as he worked to escape her grip. Finally he succeeded, but not before she slipped him a piece of paper with Zora's address on it, presumably so he could follow them later on. The Signer took one last look at everyone in the room before nodding and giving one final parting shot, "As for moving all that heavy equipment, I would suggest asking Saiga. He's stronger than me, anyway."

Ushio blanched slightly. "Right, Saiga…" he murmured sheepishly. "Why do we always seem to forget about him?"

[-]

The assembly of the Dark King and Queen's royal palace was looking to become the most rapidly completed construction project in the history of the world, thanks in no small part to the massive labor force currently carrying it out the task with single-minded efficiency.

Not that the monarchs weren't bearing their own sizable shares of the work, of course. With the advantage of their limited but potent telepathy, each Dark Signer was easily worth a few dozen wraith-like servants in terms of productivity. Admittedly they weren't _quite_ as intensely focused on the construction as their slaves were; neither one could resist stealing the occasional furtive glance at their counterpart. Jack had found, to his surprise but also to his grand satisfaction, that he was intensely turned on by watching Carly work, and it was readily apparent from her badly hidden observations of his person that she felt the same way. Still, at the rate they were going, he supposed that they could afford the occasional…distraction.

The palace was to be the couple's magnum opus, an everlasting monument to the total dominion over the planet that they were now in the process of seizing. Both Dark Signers agreed that some amount of practicability had to be sacrificed for magnanimity; the citadel would be heavily symbolic in a multitude of ways, so no expense of labor had been spared to produce a palace greater than any that had ever existed before. It was for this reason that the fortress was being built to contain a large number of grand kitchens and bathrooms, despite the fact that its main occupants no longer had any need for either. Like the great quantity of sitting rooms (which Jack had honestly never understood the purpose of; couldn't you just sit in _any_ room with a chair?), they were there chiefly to serve as space filler.

On the other hand, a large variety of bedrooms were also being erected throughout the building, and these most certainly _would _serve a concrete, practical purpose. Last night had been the most amazing one of Jack's life, for a variety of reasons, but the ultimate cap on the eventful evening had certainly been that magnificent intimacy that he and Carly had experienced together. Truly being one, in every sense of the word, had been the single most exhilarating thing that Jack had ever felt, and he was admittedly quite eager to experience it again.

"Something on your mind?" Carly asked playfully, causing Jack to jump; he hadn't noticed her sneak back to his side.

"Oh, nothing much," Jack answered airily. "Just looking forward to having this thing built so that we can…err…settle down for the night."

"The same way that we…err…settled down _last_ night, you mean?" Carly jibed, her voice still light and joyful. "Well, if you're wondering whether I want to or not…the answer is undeniably, irrevocably, unequivocally yes. I love you, Jack Atlas, and I'm never going to be shy to take an opportunity to prove that to you."

Jack smiled deeply, his eyes closing for a moment as he slowly but firmly pulled her close to him. If they were still living she would have sworn that he was inhaling her scent, but of course the dead had none. Regardless, the Dark King appeared satisfied as he leaned his face down toward hers and whispered, "Neither will I. And speaking of which, do you recall my suggestion for a second date?"

Carly nodded. "I do, but…now, you mean?" she asked, appearing slightly puzzled.

A wide smirk spread across Jack's face. "Why not?" he rejoined. "The servants have finished constructing the frame for the palace, so the part of the process for which our powers would be most useful has passed, and the King of the Underworld shouldn't return for a few hours yet. I think that we have a bit of…free time on our hands."

"Oh, you are simply _incorrigible_, my Dark King," Carly murmured in his ear before wrapping her arms around his neck and getting in a prime position to be carried. Carefully Jack scooped her into his grip and began to beat his wings fiercely against the wind until the Dark Signers rose up above the barren wasteland of Satellite and into the open air, where not even the limits of gravity seemed to bind them any longer.

[-]

Crow pumped the ignition on the Blackbird, accelerating sharply as he tore toward the titanic behemoth that was currently demolishing half of Satellite simply by standing in it. He wasn't sure exactly what that thing was, but he knew that he needed to get its attention before it reached the orphanage, or all Hell was gonna break loose.

Not that he didn't have at least an _inkling_ about the monster's true identity, of course, but his brain's initial explanation just didn't seem to fit. This thing's incomprehensively devastating rampage was certainly in keeping with the ominous picture that Rudger's descriptions had painted of the King of the Underworld, but hadn't all they had gone through yesterday been to _stop_ that creature from being freed? They had managed, barely, to seal all of the control towers, so the King should have been locked in Hell where it belonged.

Still, the Dark Signers had Jack on their side now, and if the orange-haired boy could say anything for his old friend it was that nothing could stop him once he put his mind to something. If there was some other way to resurrect that monster, then Jack Atlas would doubtless have found it. Swearing loudly at this thought, Crow finally entered the creature's line of sight.

It did not take long for the King of the Underworld to notice the young Signer amongst the rubble of what had once been the Shachi district. Normally Crow's black D-Wheel blended in quite well with his surroundings at night, but normally Satellite wasn't a screaming, blazing ruin either. The Blackbird stood out quite starkly against the Hellish inferno, and so it was only a few seconds before the monster affixed Crow with its unnaturally sharp gaze.

As soon as this occurred, Crow thought that he could understand just what Aki had been talking about. Nothing physically changed about his environment, but the atmosphere surrounding the area dampened noticeably; all sound, even that of his own heartbeat, was muted, and the air seemed to thicken to the point that breathing took genuine effort. And perhaps most disturbingly, the King seemed to completely disappear from his peripheral vision. Despite its gargantuan size, unless Crow was looking directly at the creature it appeared to become utterly invisible to his naked eye. The ramifications of this became abundantly clear as he just managed to swerve out of the way of an enormous, monstrous bird that seemed to materialize out of nowhere right in front of him.

"Shit!" Crow shouted at the top of his lungs, taking a sharp turn with his D-Wheel before chancing a glance backward. No less than a dozen slimy, filthy crows (oh, the irony!) were following close on his tail, with more spawning by the second straight out of the King's oozing form. And worst of all, these birds apparently shared their master's resistance to indirect observation, meaning that if Crow wanted to keep his eyes in front of him he would need to avoid their attacks blindly.

This was, unfortunately, easier said than done. The King seemed content to allow its avian servants to handle the interloper, and while they didn't seem particularly intelligent their lack of a self-preservation instinct made their assaults chillingly effective. As soon as one of them caught up with the Blackbird it would invariably attempt a suicidal dive-bomb, bursting into grayish goo as it tried to forcefully eject Crow from his already less-than-stable seating. Again and again the birds peppered his D-Wheel with constant, vicious battery, and Crow's increasingly desperate attempts to evade them were beginning to take their toll on his body. Finally, inevitably, one of the beasts met their mark perfectly, and the resulting collision sent Crow and his D-Wheel flying.

Crow hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and excruciating pain shot all throughout his right side. Without even looking he knew that his right shoulder, which had absorbed the majority of the impact, was absolutely shattered, and as he opened his eyes to gaze hazily at the Blackbird he found that it had fared even worse. An enormous splinter ran through the entire machine, cleaving it in two, and a small silver compartment below the engine had been dislodged from its position and cracked open. Turning his eyes upward Crow saw with dim horror that he had landed straight in the King of the Underworld's path, and that it was raising one of its massive legs to rectify this fact and extinguish the Signer's life forever. Crow tried to summon up the strength to defend himself but found that he had none left, and it was in that brief moment, when the headstrong teenager became resigned to the idea that he was going to die, that it happened.

Crimson light erupted from the container that had spilled out of the Blackbird, and the sharp hunting cry of a raptor sounded throughout the air as the unnatural silence instantly evaporated. A small rectangular object floated out of the pillar of pure energy, and with wide eyes and trembling fingers Crow seized the card and gazed upon its familiar form: the Blackfeather Dragon.

There was no mistaking the formidable Synchro Monster; how many times had he witnessed his late mentor Robert Pearson use it to finish a duel? It had been his trump card, his hallmark, the ultimate signature of the Black Feather deck that now rested in Crow's possession…until that horrible day when Pearson's life had been claimed, and the Blackfeather Dragon had disappeared from the world's sight…

Instantly, Crow understood. Pearson had wanted to prevent whoever ended his life from getting their hands on his most precious card, and to that end he had hidden it in the Blackbird, knowing that he could count on Crow to salvage and protect the D-Wheel at any cost. Which meant that for all these years, Crow had been driving around with one of the rarest, most powerful cards to ever reach the streets of Satellite directly below him…and the Signer was determined to make the most of this fact, in a way that he hoped would make Pearson proud.

Because while he had no idea _how_, the maddening flashing of his birthmark and a small part of his mind that he connected vaguely to the ancient God who had marked him were telling him with absolute certainty that this last piece of Pearson's legacy had recently transformed into something much more: his very own Signer Dragon.

Enveloped in the rapidly growing crimson light emanating from his new familiar, Crow chanced a glance back at the King of the Underworld, which seemed to be frozen with a look somewhat akin to confusion set across its monstrous face. Taking advantage of its momentary hesitation, Crow sprinted over to the fallen Blackbird (just like Yusei and Dr. Schmitt, Crow had found that exposure to the Akaki Ryu's energy had miraculously healed his wounds) and removed his Duel Disk from its slot on the motorcycle. Not bothering to follow the normal game rules, Crow simply slammed the Blackfeather Dragon onto the surface and waited anxiously for something to happen.

Fortunately, the orange-haired Signer did not have to wait long. An instant later a life-sized version of the behemoth pictured on the card erupted forth in a dazzling blaze of crimson light, its form quite clearly far more defined than any mere Solid Vision hologram. Dazed, Crow found himself perched across the dragon's crest, holding tightly onto its flowing mane of ebony feathers for support as it let out a massive cry and launched itself straight into the King of the Underworld.

The quadrupedal beast staggered backward at the impact but did not fall; the collision, however, seemed to have finally earned its undivided attention. Wordlessly the King commanded its massive legion of slime-covered birds to strike at this new interloper, but Blackfeather Dragon effortlessly swatted them away by flapping its wings from side to side, hurricane-force gales going forth and slamming the creatures into the ground, where they burst into grayish goo. And the few drones that made it through the ferocious winds did not fare much better; merely touching Blackfeather Dragon's wings seemed to cause them to splatter regardless. Crow also couldn't help but notice that every one of the dragon's shining white feathers that touched one of the birds immediately turned an ominous jet-black.

Seeing its servants being demolished left-and-right, the King of the Underworld apparently decided to take care of this matter itself. Pitching its strange maw back and focusing a good portion of its dark power into a single shot, the King formed an enormous ball of purely negative energy and sent it flying at the dragon with a snap of its jaw. Crow shielded his eyes in preparation for an impact that never came, for Blackfeather Dragon simply raised its wings to block the assault, absorbing every ounce of the attack into its feathers until the whole range of them were as black as coal. Smirking, Crow knew instinctively that he was about to witness quite a show.

Blood-red lightning shot down the dragon's vast wings, gathering up the dark energy sealed within each feather and focusing it between its spindly, insect-like legs. Finally, when both wings were purged of the stored power and the resulting sphere reached critical mass, Blackfeather Dragon released the energy in a massive torrent that struck the King of the Underworld dead-on. To Crow's astonishment the monster did not shrug off this attack like it had all previous ones; the crimson electricity appeared to have frozen it in place, and the rate at which it seemed to be melting had increased dramatically. Sensing that this was the time to strike, Crow shouted the attack name that he had heard Pearson triumphantly utter so many times before: "Nova Stream!"

The incredible burst of ruby-red energy that shot forth from Blackfeather Dragon's beak was unrivalled by anything Crow had ever before witnessed in a duel, and its target was forced back a good distance by its sheer power. As the smoke cleared, Crow felt almost ready to jump for joy; the King had clearly sustained real damage from that assault, evidenced most readily in the complete lack of one of its frontal limbs. A moment later the beast grew a replacement, but it clearly took quite a bit of effort, as the creature did nothing but wait in silence and consider its powerful new enemy.

Finally, with a great cry of frustration the King turned toward the ocean and began trudging toward Neo Domino City, ignoring the path through Satellite which would allow it to proceed there more quickly. Crow momentarily considered following the behemoth but ultimately decided against it; although he had won this battle, he had had the element of surprise on his hands, and if he challenged the King of the Underworld again it would doubtless be better prepared for Blackfeather Dragon's power. Gazing with palpable regret at the city that he was leaving to its fate, Crow directed his dragon to the Kyojin district, where he hoped that everyone else might now be safely waiting for him.

[-]

Even with an address, finding a house he had never seen in a country where the road signs and directions were in a language he did not understand was no easy task. Fortunately Yusei had managed to, with difficulty, acquire more specific directions from a couple of other English-speakers, and it was through their assistance that he was now turning onto _La Rue de l'Étoile_ and gazing around avidly for the former Leblanc residence.

It did not take long to locate; the other houses on the block were certainly luxurious, but only one of them could ever conceivably be described as a "mansion." And quite a mansion it was, too; it certainly rivaled some of the most famous palaces in the world in sheer opulence. And yet, it had the unmistakable, deadened air of a home that had not been lived in for many years, a feeling that greatly saddened Yusei to contemplate. Here, a perfectly happy family had been torn to pieces by Yliaster's mad desire for a single trading card, a loving mother and father shot to death in their own home and a little girl forced to go on the run for the rest of her life. The full weight of the story fell upon Yusei suddenly but forcefully, and he folded his hands in respect as he looked upon the abandoned manor. It was only after a few moments of this silent reflection that Yusei noticed something rather strange.

Half-hidden in the bushes to the right of the massive doorway was something shiny and metallic, and Yusei hastened forward to take a look at it. He was rather disconcerted by the fact that the cast-iron gate that should have been blocking him from the still-private property was unlocked, but the identity of the object that had caught his eye was even more unusual. It was quite evidently a D-Wheel, but one that had been custom-built and heavily accessorized; it resembled nothing if not a steel horse, with ridges in the shape of flames running across its surface and a coat of arms emblazoned on its side. And based on the conspicuous lack of dust upon its chrome shell, there was only one conclusion that Yusei could draw from its presence: someone else was here.

Cautiously Yusei crept over to the stately archway and pushed on the ornate wooden doors; like the gate, they yielded easily to his touch. Peering carefully around the atrium Yusei saw nothing particularly unusual, but he knew that stealth certainly couldn't hurt, and so that was the mindset with which he began to search the area. Peering around corners, keeping an eye over his shoulder, minimizing the sounds he made until he was practically silent; for a man who had spent most of his life on the "wrong" side of the law, combing the Leblancs' manor without being seen or heard was child's play.

Or so he had thought. As he investigated a run-down home office for possible clues as to the location of Sherry or the card she possessed, he failed to notice an even more adeptly stealthy individual creep up behind him…not until they had pinned him straight against a wall, his arms rendered useless by an expert hold.

Yusei could not see his assailant, but she – for he quickly recognized her voice as distinctly feminine – immediately began shouting at him in rapid French. "Qui la putain es-tu?" she screamed directly into his ear, tightening her grip on his arms as she did. "Que la putain es-tu faire ici? Me répond! _Me répond maintenant!_"

All thoughts of English driven out by sheer panic, Yusei yelled back, "I'm sorry! Whoever you are, I mean you no harm!" in hurried Japanese. To his surprise, the woman immediately slackened her hold at this, and with difficulty he was able to turn his head to face her.

She looked to be a few years older than him, with layered blonde hair and bright green eyes. Particularly catching of his notice was the fact that she was wearing a full-body riding suit, and Yusei made the mental connection between her and the D-Wheel he had found in the bushes. But even more shocking was her next sentence, both for its content and for the fact that it was delivered in accented but otherwise perfect Japanese: "My name is Sherry Leblanc."

Yusei's eyes widened as she continued, "Now I'll ask again – who are you?"

Taking a deep breath, Yusei responded in measured tones, "My name is Yusei Fudo. Once again, I am very sorry for intruding. I was, in fact, looking for you."

It was Sherry's turn to be shocked, but unlike Yusei her voice appeared to grow harder for it. Renewing her grip on his arms as her eyes flashed dangerously, she demanded, "Are you a friend of Mizoguchi's, then?"

"Umm…no. I'm afraid I don't know who that is," Yusei replied, confused. "I'm here looking for information regarding the whereabouts of a certain card."

As soon as Yusei uttered the word "card," Sherry's face darkened noticeably, and in a venomous tone she breathed, "In that case, I have just one question for you…" Then, before completing the thought, she seized the Signer by the throat and with a massive effort slammed him back into the wall.

"Were you the one who killed my parents?" she screeched, fury contorting her features until they no longer appeared human.

[-]

As any lover knows, there is a fine art attached to the relatively simple act of kissing. Passion must be tempered with restraint, and force with tenderness, until the perfect balance is achieved to maximize pleasure for both participants. Governing this balance are a variety of rules, some straightforward, some complex, but in all cases absolute and immutable.

At least, that was what Jack had thought. But he was quickly learning that the presence of his wings threw every single one of those rules right out the window.

Their ascent had been the most exhilarating portion. Not entirely confident in his flying ability Jack had beat his wings far more ferociously than he had needed to, resulting in a rapid climb through the rushing winds that would have likely given the pair an acute sense of vertigo had they been capable of experiencing such a thing. As it was the Dark Signers were merely rendered somewhat disoriented, but this faded quickly and they were soon free to observe their surroundings.

Jack had finally arrested them just below the lowest stratum of clouds, the freezing temperatures of little concern to their unfeeling skin. The kiss was immediate and uninhibited, requiring no prefacing or preparation; one moment their lips were apart and the next they were glued fiercely together, Carly writhing in pleasure within Jack's firm embrace as she shifted her position to enjoy his mouth from every possible angle. With the occasional minute flap proving sufficient to keep them hovering at roughly the same elevation, Jack began to respond by twisting and turning their intertwined bodies with the inconstant wind currents, the result being that the Dark Signers were revolving in a dance as free as the air surrounding them.

The feeling was earth-shattering. The couple had shared some intensely intimate kisses since Jack's death, but none were the equal of this. The removal of the ground from the equation seemed to have removed the last few limits upon their mutual passion as well, and the pair was taking full advantage of it. Searching hands ran all across each other's forms, and muscles tightened as each Dark Signer answered their counterpart's silent plea for greater closeness, placing the Dark King and Queen in a variety of positions that would likely send Carly's mother into a frenzied fit of consternation were she to observe them now.

After countless moments of deep, uninterrupted amour, Jack Atlas and Carly Nagisa slowly broke apart, her waist still straddling his for support as she began to lovingly stroke his silvery blond hair. A moment later they made eye contact, and their minds connected utterly.

If the airborne kiss had been bliss, then this sensation was absolute Nirvana. For just a second the King of the Underworld and the destruction of the Earth meant nothing; there was only Jack, and there was only Carly. As their consciousnesses melded each saw the other's life unfold directly before their mind's eye at a lightning pace, and yet neither had any trouble whatsoever following the narrative.

Carly came to know a little boy neglected by his parents, who had run away from home as a toddler and unwittingly saved his own life at the expense of theirs'. She saw him observing happy families with deeply hidden longing in his heart, coveting power and fame and all of their trappings, making cherished friends and then stabbing them in the back for a chance at that power, and finally giving it all up to embark on a foolhardy but undoubtedly noble quest to save the soul of the woman he loved.

And Jack came to know a little girl who had yearned so badly to escape her quiet rural life that she had "borrowed" her parents' car one night without permission in order to have just one big night on the town…and consequently had missed her father finally succumb to his cancer. He saw her cutting herself off from every single relationship that tethered her to her small hometown as she was consumed by her grief (including a nameless, faceless boyfriend whom Jack couldn't help but feel just the slightest stab of jealousy toward), coming to Neo Domino with little more than the clothes on her back and a lot of determination, pursuing a story so far that she had disappeared into it in more ways than one, and finally going through the motions of death and rebirth in order to form a new world built solely for her and the man _she_ loved.

The two Dark Signers hovered in place for hours, letting each other's memories wash over them and absolve their minds of any lingering secrets or doubts. It was a connection _beyond_ the physical, and it was absolutely intoxicating. When at last their minds began to slowly separate, gossamer threads of thought and memory continued to linger across their senses, preventing the exhilarating connection from breaking completely. Again the empty corneas of the Dark King pierced those of the Dark Queen, and with that stare came an unspoken understanding that the couple was no longer merely two individuals, but rather something much, much more.

Then, without a single word (at this stage of their unification, speech seemed almost superfluous), Jack positioned his wings toward the ground and pulled into a sharp dive, making sure to maintain a firm grip on his wife as he did so. They had climbed to a rather significant altitude during their initial ascent, but the Dark King's wings were unnaturally powerful appendages and so it did not take all that long for the couple to reach the airspace directly overlooking the ruins of Satellite.

To any other couple in the world the sight of the slum's smoldering ashes might have been something of a mood-killer, but it only brought the Dark Signers greater pleasure to observe the fruits of their labor. The King of the Underworld had cut a clear swath directly through the heart of Satellite, and it was through the air above this trail that Jack carried Carly. A slight pulsating of their birthmarks was informing the pair that their palace was nearing completion, but the Dark King saw no reason why they could not take the "scenic route" on their way to their new home.

"That was…" Carly whispered, pulling herself close to her husband's ear.

"Shhh…" Jack interrupted, gently rubbing his Dark Queen's shoulders and upper arms. "You don't have to say it. Not any more."

Carly gazed back at her Dark King serenely before being overcome by a most undignified fit of giggles.

"What?" Jack asked, his eyebrows rising bemusedly.

Carly fought to regain control over herself before finally spitting out, "It's just that this is so…unlike your public persona. If only your old fans could see you now, as this closet romantic…"

That elicited a sharp bark of a laugh from the Dark King. "I suppose so," he remarked with a wide smirk. "But this side of me is reserved for you and you alone, my Dark Queen."

The smile that spread across Carly's face was completely sincere and carefree. "I think that I can make do with that, my Dark King," she said playfully, and the couple let the matter drop as they returned to the site of their newly constructed fortress, content for the moment simply to enjoy each other's company.

[-]

So this was pain.

The King of the Underworld was not used to pain; the experience was alien and unpleasant and the King did not like it.

And yet the King was puzzled. The only force that could ever possibly cause It harm was Its counterpart, the Akaki Ryu, as well as the five disciples that the accursed Dragon had trained to harness and channel Its power in response to the King's own Jibakushin. But the King of the Underworld knew every single one of the Akaki Ryu's disciples by sight, and that strange bird-like dragon was not one of them. Like pain, confusion was not a sensation that the King had had very much experience with, and also like pain the King found that It did not like it very much.

Still, while the blow that the mysterious creature had inflicted upon It had been severe, It was healing quite rapidly. Tendrils of slime were crisscrossing to fill in the gaps in Its carapace, as well as to reinforce the new limb that It had been forced to spawn. Meanwhile the King of the Underworld continued to proceed steadily to the city that Its Guide had commanded It to destroy, each step that It took through the murky bay bringing the metropolis closer and closer to oblivion.

It brought the King immeasurable pleasure to have a Guide once more; without one, the last few millennia had been unbelievably boring. The King was all raw power and no initiative; the immense amount of control required to contain Its might within Its physical form prevented the King of the Underworld from turning Its willpower to other pursuits, such as long-term planning. To have a being take those decisions out of the King's hands brought It much relief, and the King momentarily praised Its own foresight in giving Its Jibakushin the ability to take on human vessels. Humans might be inferior pests that needed to be exterminated from this planet, but the King of the Underworld could not deny that their brainpower was fairly impressive for mortal beings. And this new Guide was mercifully direct and no-nonsense in his command style, so the King was more than willing to follow his orders without question.

A few moments later the King of the Underworld finally placed an oozing claw onto dry land once more, and without missing a beat it began to raze Neo Domino City to the ground.

[-]

"Alright, here's the place," Tenpei Hayano declared magnanimously, spreading his arms wide to reveal a well-kept but distinctly uninteresting three-room apartment to his companions. Seeing their expressions, the bespectacled boy added, "Okay, I know it doesn't really compare with Ruka's and Rua's penthouse, but I bet it sure as Hell beats prison. You guys can crash here for at least the next couple of days; my folks are off on a cruise for their twentieth anniversary."

Jin Himuro nodded his approval. "I've got no objections," he said with a small smile. "This should do at least until Yusei and the gang get back. After they return we can probably go back to the twins' or Saiga's place." Plopping himself down on the vermilion couch, the former pro-duelist stretched himself out and continued, "I guess that I can just sleep here, and Yanagi can take the master bedroom. You got any issue with that, old man?"

Tenzen Yanagi did not answer; he appeared to be too busy examining an antique vase placed atop the kitchen table. "Could it be?" he mused whimsically. "Sonny, I do believe that you are in possession of the priceless Agora of Light! Dates back to fifth century Estonia, it does! Why, in all my travels throughout the world's hidden troves of treasure and antiquity, never before have I witnessed such a marvel…"

Seeing Tenpei bring his hand to his forehead, Himuro flashed a bemused grin and whispered, "Where did you actually get that thing?"

"A Wal-Mart in America," Tenpei muttered in a low voice that seemed torn between amusement and exasperation. The boy was unaware that these would be his final words.

Without warning a wall of the apartment exploded with earth-shattering force, sending its occupants sprawling painfully to the floor, their bodies now caked head-to-toe with dust and debris. Himuro shook his head violently as he attempted to regain his senses as quickly as possible, and when he finally came to his sights fell upon a gaping fissure in the upholstery. The night air flowed freely through it into the dwelling, and a moment later a swarm of monstrous birds squeezed through the crevice and turned their hungry eyes upon Tenpei, who had been knocked unconscious by the explosion.

Himuro barely had the time to scream before the creatures began to disembowel the boy, spreading his innards across the floor and ceiling as his allies gazed helplessly in pale horror. Once they deemed Tenpei's corpse to be sufficiently mutilated they backed away from his body as a uniform aggregate, letting the carcass collapse limply before turning their collective attentions to the two other occupants of the residence. Reflexively Himuro stuck out his hands to shield Yanagi, determined to fight these things if he needed to. Not that he figured he had much of a chance, based on what they had just done, but if he was going to die today then he was determined to go down swinging.

As it so happened, however, that did not prove necessary. Lightning shot forth from the tear in the wall, causing the abominable things to burst into disgusting gray goo, and immediately following the discharge came a blue, orange, and white D-Wheel, which flew straight through the opening and came to rest right in the center of the room. The motorcycle's pilot dismounted and pulled off his horned helmet with a grin, remarking smarmily, "And Jean thought that electrifying the horns outside of duels was a waste of money…" His grin faded completely when he noticed the carnage surrounding him.

Himuro was still struck dumb; so much had happened within the past two minutes that it was momentarily overwhelming him. "Who…who are you?" he finally managed to sputter.

The red-haired young man continued to stare distantly at what remained of Tenpei before shaking his head and replying, "The name's Andore, of the professional European dueling team known as Team Unicorn. I'm sure there will be time for pleasantries later, but for now, I suggest we get out of here. My teammates are waiting." And with that Andore moved to help Himuro and Yanagi onto his unicorn-like D-Wheel, driving straight out of the building the same way he had entered it. It was not a comfortable jump – the motorcycle was most certainly _not_ designed to be shared by three people, nor to be riding across rooftops – but Andore seemed to be handling it masterfully. Himuro had been a pro long enough to recognize a true riding genius when he saw one.

A few jaunts across the tops of other apartment buildings took the trio to the top levels of a commercial parking garage, where a blond and a brunette sitting astride nearly identical D-Wheels were waiting. "Looks like your insistence on playing the hero actually worked out for once, Andore," the blond said dryly. "Were you able to find any more survivors?"

"No, Breo," Andore replied, casting his gaze downward. "I followed those freaky bird things to five apartments before I found these guys…full-blown massacre in each one."

"Well then, I suggest we cut our losses for now," the brunette, whom Himuro deduced to be Jean, interjected authoritatively. "We're not likely to salvage too many others by this point, and the risk is only increasing the longer we stay here. Let's get back to headquarters."

"Sorry sonnies," Yanagi interjected, "and maybe this is only because I'm getting somewhat along in my years, but I can't make heads or tails of what in the name of Tartarus you fellas are talking about."

"I'm with the old man," Himuro declared. "What exactly is going on here?"

"_That's_ going on," the one named Breo rejoined, pointing toward the horizon. Himuro turned his gaze but did not see anything of note. "You have to look _directly_ at it," Breo added. "Otherwise, for whatever reason, you won't be able to see it."

Himuro and Yanagi both followed Breo's finger precisely this time, and after a moment they each let out audible gasps as they beheld exactly what Team Unicorn had been speaking so ominously about.

It was a dragon, maybe, or perhaps an enormous, slimy insect. Whatever is was, however, one thing was unmistakable: the titanic behemoth was systematically eradicating all traces of Neo Domino City. In addition, monstrous raptors of the same mold as the ones which killed Tenpei were sprouting from its oozing form by the minute, lending their assistance to the main creature's devastation with frightening efficiency. Himuro swore under his breath as he wondered just how long that thing had been rampaging before it had been pointed out to him, and it was only with great effort that he turned his head back to Team Unicorn in order to ask the questions still burning in his mind.

"So, you three have been trying to rescue people from whatever that thing is, then," Himuro inferred, and the three duelists nodded in agreement. "But how did you get here in the first place? Andore said that you guys were from Europe."

"We touched down here earlier today as part of our latest promotional tour," Jean stated succinctly. "As it so happened, the airport was at the epicenter of that beast's first attack; we only just escaped. After that Andore insisted that we follow its bird agents, just in case we might be able to save some of their victims. At least now we know that our operation wasn't a total failure." At that moment the parking garage rumbled violently, and in response the members of Team Unicorn simultaneously reattached their helmets. "Enough chit-chat," Jean ordered, noticing the panicked looks on the faces of the former professional duelist and the eccentric treasure hunter. "Look, I wasn't expecting to find myself in a war situation this morning either, but the fact is that that's where we are, regardless of whether we like it or not. So get on, and let's ride to our safe house. Team Unicorn, move out!"

Nodding their assent Himuro mounted Breo's D-Wheel while Yanagi returned to Andore's, and without another word the five duelists shot forth toward the ground, driving as fast as possible away from the colossal juggernaut currently bringing death wherever it stood.

[-]

Over the next few hours, the fates of thousands upon thousands of residents of Neo Domino City changed forever.

Takasu Armstrong had just blown his nose hairs into his thirtieth inmate of the day before a swarm of large, bloodthirsty birds put an end to his disgusting habit forever.

Dick Pitt's celebrations of his first day of release from the custody of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau were interrupted quite violently by a sphere of pure darkness, which incinerated him utterly.

Jill deLauncebeaux didn't even receive the dignity of knowing his death was forthcoming; his preparations for the looming cosplay convention were cut short by one of the King of the Underworld's massive limbs crushing his apartment complex into fine powder.

Mukuro Enjo's demise was probably the most pathetic; he had just removed his pants in order to enjoy some "entertainment" on his laptop when one of the King's claws bumped into his mansion, causing a sizable portion of the ceiling to collapse and crush the professional duelist to death in a rather compromising position.

All across the city, the stories echoed each other with frightening clarity. Kohei Aoyama was gutted by a dozen oozing beaks, Rudolph Heitmann was caught in the middle of an explosion following the collapse of Neo Domino's gas pipelines, and Akutsu Toriyama suffered the abject humiliation of being _swallowed_ by the titanic monster as the last, pitiful line of defense for his beloved Momentum reactor fell to pieces.

It was not long at all before the formerly great city was a withered, smoldering ruin, and the King of the Underworld gazed upon Its handiwork with immense satisfaction (or at least, as close to satisfaction as a God could possibly muster). Where merely an hour prior there had stood magnificent skyscrapers and high-rise apartment, ash-strewn shells of demolished buildings and enormous globs of the King's own slime now littered the desolate cityscape. Something resembling a grin spread across the King's maw before Its eyes glowed bright and a low cry escaped from deep within Its core, summoning millions of corpse-like slaves to permanently secure the city. A particularly large battalion was wordlessly dispatched to the Momentum reactor; Its Guide had seen fit to pay the machine special mention in his orders, and the King was not about to question a direct command.

Once the King deemed Its servants to be sufficiently dispersed, it turned back purposefully toward the site of Its Guide's rapidly assembling fortress and proceeded directly to it, Its eyes alight with something akin to eagerness as It anticipated Its Guide's reaction to the unquestionable success of Its first mission.

Meanwhile, another figure was observing the devastation with a rather less pleasurable expression…not that his brain wasn't already whirling with ideas of how to work this Apocalypse for his "business interests." The conversation he had overheard at the Public Security Maintenance Bureau had given him some indication that something big had been coming, and subsequently he had been more prepared for this catastrophe than any other man in Japan. Gathering a cloak around himself and summoning two of his men for back-up, he slipped out through the dark alleys of Neo Domino, his course set for a small underground ferry that would convey him directly into the heart of the Satellite.

He had some business to attend to with the man in charge.

[-]

Despite their absolute mastery over the forces of space and time, neither Dark Signer was completely sure exactly how long they had spent in the sky, sharing themselves utterly. All they knew was that when Jack finally touched down onto the outer boundaries of the B.A.D. area, their palace was completed.

There were simply no words to describe the finished product. A seamless blend of ancient, classical, Gothic, Renaissance, and modern architecture, the fortress was an artistic and technological marvel, unrivalled by any edifice ever constructed by mortal men. And at its foot stood thousands of ghoulish wraiths, prostrating themselves fully at the return of their master and mistress.

"You have done well, my servants," Jack boomed approvingly. "We are immensely pleased. Now, take respite in the lower quarters of our citadel for the moment. We shall call if we have further need of you."

The zombies proceeded precisely as they were directed, funneling through the passageways set on either side of the palace to large chambers where they would be able to congregate out of sight of their monarchs. Jack and Carly made to follow them but were held in place by burning sensations in their birthmarks. Looking around for the source of the signaling pain their ebony eyes soon alighted on the King of the Underworld, which had evidently just returned to the shores of Satellite, and which was rapidly making its way back to its Guide.

"Looks like our King has completed its mission," Jack stated with a smirk and a low laugh, one which Carly immediately joined in on heartily.

[-]

At that same time the sun set in Paris, France, and the Crimson Star Night School opened its doors for students that would never come. The anti-human wards that the occupants of the establishment erected each night made absolutely sure of that.

Right on cue, the receptionist led the sole patron of the school's facilities into the classroom, directing him, "Par ici, Monsieur Pavarotti," in a loud, ostentatious voice.

"Relax, Placido," José Carreras breathed through his recently repositioned respirator. "This ruse is no longer necessary. By tomorrow we will have dissolved this front operation, and no one in Paris will even remember that it existed."

"_Finally_," Luciano Pavarotti drawled, his eyepiece rematerializing over his rolling cornea. "I never got the point of this stupid school. I mean, we're messengers of God who don't require human speech to communicate, with pseudonyms borrowed from Spanish and Italian singers, pretending to be French and teaching English…all so we can lure in a guy who speaks Japanese? This shit is so convoluted that it's beginning to sound like the plot of some fucking Shounen anime."

"So, that spiky-haired boy was him, then?" Placido Domingo asked as he too recreated his metallic eye patch, talking over Luciano's continued ramblings. "That was the Signer we've been waiting for these past few weeks?"

"Indeed," José stated gravely. "That was Yusei Fudo, the one that the fates have prophesized. The sole human with the power to manipulate God's will."

"And what is he here for, then?" Placido continued.

"Based on the information that he requested of me," José answered, "my best guess is that he is here in Paris to search for _Z-One_."

Expressions of simultaneous shock fell upon the faces of both of the younger Emperors. Placido recovered first. "So what are we going to do about him, then?" he demanded.

José breathed ominously several times as he considered the matter, before finally uttering, "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Luciano shouted, his braid swinging wildly in his indignant fury. "What the fuck do you mean, _nothing_?"

José took another dramatic pause before explaining, "Our own operatives have tried and failed for over eighteen years to recover that card. Perhaps the Signer will be more successful. You fail to grasp, as you always have, the true _Art of War_." José cleared his throat before reciting, "'And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle, and are not brought there by him.'"

"Yes, well, that's all well and good," said Placido insistently, "but quotes from Sun Tzu won't get you out of the hole that you are digging for yourself. Tell me this: how in the world will getting the card from the Signer be any easier than getting it from that Leblanc girl?"

"Retrieving it will not be necessary," José declared in a low, firm tone. "I do not believe that he understands the card's full potential. If he comprehends anything about _Z-One_'s significance, I would wager that he knows it solely as the receptacle of the fifth Signer Dragon's soul, which means that he will likely play it in a duel as soon as he gets his hands on it."

Placido's and Luciano's eyes bulged; the consequences of _Z-One_ being played on a machine powered by a Momentum reactor would be cataclysmic.

"I see that you now understand my reasoning for allowing Yusei Fudo to lay his hands on the greatest weapon on Earth," José continued, his expression unfathomable thanks to his covered mouth and heavily wrinkled eyes. "A great disaster is imminent, and I am certain that in his attempts to revolt against it Yusei Fudo will play _Z-One_. The Circuit will thus be completed with a single duel, and God's advent shall be nigh.

"I acknowledge that this was not my original plan, but I believe that it shall work out just as well; perhaps, even better." José paused here before adding, "By all means continue work on our other operations – Placido, carry on with construction on our Ghost armada and Luciano, maintain observation of the skies for any sign of our Tablets – but as for the looming crisis, I believe that we would be best served by allowing it to play out its fated course."

"So you just want us to wait this thing out?" Placido asked, his apprehension palpable. "From what few clues that God has passed down to us, Armageddon is coming. You're actually proposing that we just sit back and do nothing about that?"

"Other than ensuring that this War began at the time of our choosing, Yliaster has largely stayed out of the affairs of the Dark Signers," José pointed out. "And there is a reason for that. Up until now, their goals have coincided with ours to the extent that direct intervention was unnecessary, and while this new Dark Signer's designs have grown somewhat more…ambitious, I do not believe that that situation has changed significantly.

"This new ruler will experience his meteoric rise and fall, just as every single monarch throughout the history of humanity has, and out of the ashes of his failure shall dawn a new world, one finally fit enough for God to ordain with His presence," José concluded, an air of finality falling across the room.

"Alright, alright," Luciano finally said after several moments of silence. "We'll go with that, then. So should we just return to our own dimension for now?"

"I believe that that would be best, at least in the interim," José responded, nodding purposefully to Placido. The android returned the nod and drew his sword, which he used to slash a massive fissure directly through the framework of space and time.

A moment later, the Crimson Star Night School and its occupants were gone without a trace, and just as José had predicted no one but Yusei Fudo carried any further memory that it had ever existed at all.

[-]

A/N: Alright, I'm sure that most of you are wondering what I'm playing at. I apologize profusely for taking a month to post Chapter 8…and then take nearly two to post Chapter 9. But before y'all get to lighting those torches and sharpening those pitchforks, let me explain why this chapter took so Goddamn long.

First, the bad stuff: college absolutely _overwhelmed_ me during my last quarter, with massive papers flying at me on an (at least) weekly basis. My last day of freshman year was literally divided straight between packing up what remained of my dorm room and finishing up a paper on the political situation in Zimbabwe. As such, it was rather difficult to bring myself to write for pleasure during this period, and I resolved to finally get this thing done once summer vacation rolled around instead.

Of course, I've been on vacation for a little over a week, so what's the reason why I'm only just now uploading this chapter? The answer is that I immediately started a summer job with the United States Census Bureau once I got here, and all-day training across last week left me drained and still not all-too willing to write. The job pays well and has flexible hours, but I need to work weekends and I don't get any days off, so my writing progress has been rather slower than I was hoping.

Still, this job is only temporary, so after the next 2-3 weeks I will have almost unlimited time to devote to my writing. I can promise you all that if you'll bear with me through these next few weeks then you will be receiving a litany of one-shots as well as much more frequent updates of this story, scheduled for release on a roughly alternating schedule (so my next project will be a one-shot, then Chapter 10, then another one-shot, then Chapter 11, etc.). I'm looking forward to a lot of writing over the next three months, and so I hope that you guys are looking forward to a lot of reading. ;D

Fortunately, the _other_ reason why my free time has been rather limited for the past month or so is a far more pleasant one. As frequent readers of my Profile page here have probably noticed, I recently got together with the love of my life, fellow user Sara Crewe. And while I'll admit that talking with her has eaten up a whole lot of time that I would probably otherwise have spent writing, I wouldn't blame her for it, since this story in many ways only _exists_ because of her. She provides much of the inspiration for how I write the female characters in this story (particularly Dark Carly and Aki, who I promise you all will be enjoying an increased role as of next chapter). And she's always been incredibly supportive of my writing, having been the one to goad me into reentering the world of fan fiction way back in December.

Plus, she's been reading and reviewing each chapter despite the fact that she's never even watched a single _episode_ of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. That takes dedication. ;P

As such, I'd like to dedicate this entire chapter to her, my very own Dark Queen. May she enjoy it in all its lengthy, lengthy glory.

Anyway, a couple of other notes I'd like to make about the chapter itself:

Just to keep your expectations in perspective, the Three Emperors of Yliaster won't be reappearing for most of the rest of this fic; as José proposed, they'll be sitting out the reign of the Dark King and waiting for it to work to their advantage. But look for them to appear prominently in a sequel to this story that I am currently planning out, an adaptation of Season 3 that takes place in the _My Dark King_ AU.

While I believe that most of the French used here is pretty straightforward, PM me if you want an English translation of a particular word or line.

Now, time for the part that I'm sure you've all been waiting for – the reviewer responses! Huge shout-outs go out to all 13 of my wonderful reviewers this time around; JillRG, MizoreShirayukiFan, KaliAnn, Zaconator and Zackis, Xoroth, Jen Kritique, Sara Crewe, Hyrulian Hero Akai, Nightshade07, Ultimate Warrior of Zera, susl, Ox Boy Jr. 53Z, and of course the almighty Queen of Reviewing orangerebellion, I just want you all to know how incredibly gratifying it is to hear from you each time a new chapter goes up. No matter the source – regular reviewers, newcomers, anonymous readers, whatever – leaving a message expressing what you enjoyed about the chapter (the more specific and detailed, the better) always warms my heart and spurs me to ample further writing. I eagerly look forward to your thoughts on this one!

Now, for some more specific responses:

**Hyrulian Hero Akai:** Yusei is only lending out Stardust Dragon at this point. He believed that it would be more useful to the Signers' cause if it stayed in Japan, and Ushio is the only person with whom Yusei would trust it, by virtue of the fact that the Akaki Ryu chose him to wield the tail birthmark.

**Sara Crewe:** Pokèmon does not pwn. Pokèmon suxorz. Pokèmon suxorz _hard_.

Also, I love you. This is apropos to nothing, but I never get tired of saying it. ;D

**Ultimate Warrior of Zera:** Monster statistics and card descriptions are difficult to fit within the fic without making it look really messy, and my Author's Notes are long enough that putting them in the A/N section probably isn't feasible either (this site generally frowns on "excessive" Author's Notes). So I'll propose the same system as I set up above for French-to-English translations: PM me a list of the cards that you want statistics/descriptions for, and I'll PM you back that information. This offer extends to anyone who becomes confused by some aspect of my written duels.

**Ox Boy Jr. 53Z:** Since using Amethyst Archdæmon's Dragon's effect was not necessary for Jack to win his duel with Rex, I made a conscious decision to preserve its revelation for the Dark King's next duel. I will assure you, however, that its effect is a pretty damn cool one.

**orangerebellion:** I believe that I made my gratitude for your _massive_ Chapter 8 review quite clear in my PMs, and I hope that you're still looking forward to the one-shots that I teased for you.

Incidentally, I invented Jaeger's last name for this fic; I've invented a lot of them, in fact, since 5D's has seen fit to introduce an annoyingly large number of single-named characters. Officially, the clown man doesn't have any known surname.

The end of the world is finally here, and the Dark King and Queen couldn't be happier. Their reign has already begun to spread across the planet, and it shall only increase further as the next few chapters fly by. But while the heroes are down they're not quite out, and slowly but surely their forces are mobilizing. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 10: _Revanche_.

– Masterdramon


	10. Revanche

**My Dark King – Chapter 10: Revanche**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

"Wha-what?" Yusei managed to gasp, his windpipe severely constricted by Sherry's unyielding grip. "What do you mean?"

"Answer the fucking question!" the blonde-haired woman screamed, her voice erupting with incalculable fury. "Were you the one who killed my parents?"

"No!" Yusei choked out weakly, his vision already growing hazy from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain. Sherry did not seem prepared to take his word for it, however, as she applied even greater pressure to his neck, punching him in the gut a couple of times for good measure. The sharp pain shot Yusei's oxygen-starved mind into instinctual desperation, and a moment later he was wildly thrashing about, his mouth attempting frantically to draw breath. In the course of his erratic struggling Yusei's right sleeve caught on the edge of a nearby desk, causing the navy fabric to tear clean through and exposing his right forearm to Sherry's sight.

Yusei's vision was completely overcome by shimmering stars right before she finally released her hold and let him slump to the floor, an audible gasp escaping her lips as she did so. He heard her mutter something that sounded like, "Well…_that_ changes some things," in a low voice, and then everything went black.

[-]

Jack gazed upon the King of the Underworld with a strange sense of paternal pride; this made little sense, given that the ancient God was older than him by eons, but the feeling remained all the same. Having been human so recently himself, Jack found it difficult not to read certain mortal emotions into the King's blank expression, and at the moment he was being reminded adamantly of a blond-haired, violet-eyed boy begging Martha for some recognition that he had done a good job in cleaning his room. The desire for the acknowledgement of one's success, it seemed, was universal…even for Gods.

"You have done exceedingly well, our King," Jack declared magnanimously, deciding that it was well worth it to oblige the creature in its craving for his gratitude. "We are most especially pleased with the speed and efficiency of your onslaught. If we may, have you succeeded in gaining control of the city's Momentum reactor?"

The behemoth's titanic head sank and then rose again in an unmistakable nod, and the Dark King smiled at the assurance that the most valuable object in the city had been spared from annihilation during the beast's rampage. Bowing low to the King of the Underworld in response, Jack then added, "Are you ready to receive your next mission?"

Another regal nod. "Very well, then," Jack continued. "Now that Neo Domino City has experienced the first taste of our glorious reign, it is time to begin expanding it to all other locations on this planet where life still dwells. Journey east until you reach the shores of a nation known as the United States, and eradicate all that draws breath upon that land. You will need to cover a significant amount of ground, so focus your attacks most principally on places of power. It is of our understanding that you possess the innate ability to sense locations where mystical energy is concentrated; regardless of position, those areas should serve as your first targets. We will never again permit any power that rivals ours to rise."

The enormous monster stared up at the Dark King for several moments before directing its body eastward and beginning to trudge purposefully toward the Pacific Ocean. Dimly sensing through his connection to Wiraqocha Rasca that the creature had detected a positive geyser of spiritual energies on an island far out to sea, Jack crossed his arms in immense satisfaction.

With any luck, the world would belong to the Dark King and Queen by the end of the week.

[-]

Ever since she was a toddler, the hopes and dreams of Martha Okasama had boiled down to just one thing: becoming a mother. The simple act of caring for another living soul captivated her imagination far more fully than her classmate's clichéd dreams of being astronauts or rock stars, and while she had placated herself as a little girl with lifelike baby dolls and toy strollers she had spent the entirety of her young life looking forward to the day when she would hold a real infant in her arms and sing it soft lullabies as it rocked to sleep within her tender embrace.

But as it always did, reality had decided to rear its ugly head and muck everything up. Martha knew that she wasn't exactly a bombshell in the looks department, but even so, her history with men had been uncommonly horrendous. The stable, loving father she envisioned for her future children never materialized, replaced instead by an endless litany of lazy, good-for-nothing deadbeats and drunken, anger-driven abusers. At one point Martha thought that she might have found husband material in a young, up-and-coming doctor by the name of Lewis Schmitt, but to her great disappointment he had informed her that he was gay on the one occasion where she had tried to broach the subject. Over the years the two had mended that rough patch and become great platonic friends, but all the same that had not brought Martha any closer to the motherhood she so desperately desired.

Martha's thirty-fifth birthday had been something of a revelation for her; she had resolved on that day to cease hunting so frantically for a husband and instead pursue her dream on her own. Asking Dr. Schmitt about the options available to her to have a child without a physical father being involved had been the most empowering conversation of her life, and she had gone to bed that night with a serene smile across her face, her mind teeming with visions of cooing infants and toy rattles.

The next day Dr. Schmitt had called to inform her that, most regrettably, her preliminary tests had revealed her to be completely infertile.

The next several years had passed Martha by in a vague blur. Learning that her most precious dream had been rendered impossible before she was even born had more-or-less broken her spirit, and while she had shifted between various service sector jobs over the months that followed in order to support herself she lacked any ambition or drive whatsoever toward her work. Without the promise that she might _someday_ have a baby of her very own to raise and nurture, every aspect of her everyday life seemed unbearably perfunctory. Martha had the self-awareness to tell, within weeks, that she was descending into a severe depression, but she was completely at a loss of what to do about it.

She wasn't sure exactly _when_ she had started drinking, but the moment she did it had begun to consume her utterly. With no family and few friends, there was nothing to stop Martha from camping out in local bars and pubs night after night, attempting to forget that she had wasted her entire life waiting for an opportunity that could never come. The constant stream of alcohol did not lift her woes – indeed, it had the general effect of making them worse – but it did allow her, just for a moment, to put aside her numerous failures in blissful oblivion.

But alcoholism was not a cheap habit, particularly after it lost her three jobs over the course of two weeks, and all too soon Martha was on the streets, her nonexistent salary no longer sufficient to pay her bar tabs, much less her rent. Having finally hit rock-bottom, Martha attempted in vain to contact the few friends she had remaining for help, but she had closed doors on each and every one of them following the day she had learned of her infertility, and consequently her renewed attempts to reach out were met with answering machines and disconnected numbers. Even Dr. Schmitt had moved to another hospital following the completion of his residency, and Martha had no way of reestablishing contact with him without money.

And so she had roamed the back roads and alleyways of what would someday be called the Satellite for days on end, begging the occasional passerby for spare change…with fairly abysmal results. On the one occasion when she had managed to secure a few meals' worth of yen from a very kind tourist, she had been mugged twenty minutes later, and the assailant had not made much of an effort to avoid causing her bodily harm.

And it was in this condition, passed out in the middle of an alley with her arm broken and her face heavily bruised, that she had been discovered by a woman named Zora, who was taking out the garbage at the time.

Zora Laruto was not exactly the approachable sort; a prematurely lined face and conservative bun hairstyle combined to produce a perpetually stern expression, but as far as Martha was concerned at that moment, the middle-aged woman might as well have had the visage of an angel. Without a word she had ushered Martha into her home nearby and offered her food, warmth, and first-aid. Too weak to protest, Martha had gratefully accepted these gifts, clutching a blanket tightly to her clammy body as she consumed her first square meal in days.

Once Martha had recovered from the initial ordeal, Zora and her husband Mikau had questioned her kindly but thoroughly, and for whatever reason Martha found herself unable to resist spilling the entire, unvarnished truth to the couple that were barely more than strangers to her. Upon the completion of the entire story Zora and Mikau had unanimously offered for her to stay with them indefinitely. And while Martha was not all that comfortable with accepting such charity, she had not been in much of a position to refuse. As such she had agreed, with the added stipulation that she would serve as their personal chef and housekeeper until she could get a new job herself.

The eleven months that she had spent with Zora and her husband had been some of the greatest in Martha's life. Both tenants were wonderful hosts and even-handed taskmasters; Mikau in particular had quite the talent for being able to discern just how much work Martha wished to do each day before she would feel comfortable eating at their table and sleeping in their guest bedroom.

And for her part, Martha couldn't help but draw certain parallels between Zora and herself; Zora no longer worked except when Mikau needed extra help with his clock-repair business, and Martha could tell that this was because the graying woman shared her ultimate dream. The difference, however, was that Zora actually _succeeded_ at achieving what she desired; about a month into Martha's stay, Zora had announced gleefully that she was pregnant. Martha was ashamed to admit that she had suppressed a massive pang of jealousy at this news, as outwardly excited and congratulatory as she had been.

But all of that half-formed resentment had melted away the moment that Zora had first handed the newborn infant into the arms of his "Auntie Martha" to hold. The coos and giggles of the little blond lump that his parents had dubbed "Leo" erased all of Martha's misery in an instant, reminding her thoroughly of exactly _why_ she had so desperately wanted to be a mother in the first place.

In one single, shining moment of epiphany Martha had realized a new purpose in her life: being unable to carry a fetus did _not_ prevent her from taking care of children. The next day she had gotten to work acquiring a lease for a spacious but abandoned mansion a few districts away, which she intended to repurpose into a daycare center. It had been intensely difficult, reentering the working world after languishing away from it for so long, but seeing Leo's tiny smile had reawakened a burning passion that rendered her absolutely unstoppable. The fact that she had Zora's support (the woman was quite active in her community and carried influence with old friends in the political and business spheres) didn't hurt either. Zora had even helped her to reestablish contact with Dr. Schmitt, whom she co-opted as an emergency medical responder should something occur with one of the children in her care.

Several weeks later Martha's daycare center was completely set up; the former manor had been fully refurbished for its new occupants, with restocked kitchens and a wide variety of toys donated by members of the community. A concrete date was set for the opening of the facility, and Martha felt prouder of herself than she had in many years.

But fate evidently wasn't finished with Martha Okasama.

It had been the very night before opening day. Knowing that she would want to get an early start on the work ahead of her that morning, Martha had turned in just after dinner, and consequently she had been sleeping soundly when it happened.

The sound had wrested her from her slumber immediately; indeed, she very much doubted that there was a single sleeping person in the city who _hadn't_ been awakened by it. The initial explosion (at least, that's what it _sounded_ like) was ear-shattering, and the subsequent earthquake had been cataclysmic. Skyscrapers had fallen like building blocks, enormous structures of stone and steel had collapsed in on their occupants, and by the end of the day, the entirety of Domino City had been cleaved clean in two.

That day, which would go down in history as Zero Reverse, changed Martha's life forever. Both Zora's house and the prospective daycare center had thankfully avoided more than superficial damage, but not everyone on their newly formed island had been quite so lucky. Casualties had been enormous, and the number of missing person reports had been so overwhelming that the Public Security Maintenance Bureau hadn't even bothered to follow-up on most of them. In terms of human losses Zero Reverse would soon be recorded as one of the most disastrous days in human history, and consequently the demand for a daycare had evaporated completely, those families that still remained intact wishing to keep their children as close as possible in the uncertain aftermath. Instead, a much higher calling now arose for the erstwhile facility, and Martha made up her mind on that day to answer it.

The disaster had orphaned an uncountable number of children throughout the Satellite, and Martha had taken it upon herself to track down every single one she could. Dozens of famished, shivering youths had turned up during those first few weeks as she combed the streets tirelessly for some trace of survivors in need, and to this day Martha could vividly recollect each and every one of their faces as she had offered them a warm bed and a roof over their heads for as long as they needed them. She remembered Crow Hogan's expression of bewildered excitement, and Jack Atlas' façade of stern indifference that he had drawn up to sooth his wounded pride, and Yusei Fudo's infectious grin of unfettered hope and love as she had held his tiny form against her breast.

But most heartening was the fact that nearly every orphan who was old enough to speak back to her had accepted her offer, meaning that within three weeks Martha had gone from a woman despairing from her lack of a single child to a mother whose hands were full with more children than she could reliably count. Indeed, only one youth had rejected her help in those early days; a somewhat older boy by the name of Kyosuke Kiryu, who had refused point-blank to rely on anyone but himself for his own survival.

The years that followed had been hard but rewarding. A decently sized bedroom on the upper floor of the orphanage became Martha's sleeping quarters, and subsequently she began seeing much less of Zora and her family. The older woman did occasionally stop by the complex for brief visits when she was in the area, often bringing Leo so that he could play with toddlers his own age. Unfortunately, such social opportunities were becoming increasingly difficult for the residents of Satellite to experience.

Following the disruptive chaos of Zero Reverse, the government of the now-titled Neo Domino City had more-or-less cut off all financial aid to its new island, contracting its available workers solely to process the city's trash. As a result the Satellite was rapidly descending into a dirty, crime-ridden slum; with no schools and few reliable jobs, many of the region's long-time residents had resorted to stealing to sustain themselves. For her part Martha's challenge was to convince the children within her charge that there was a greater life for them than looting and gang violence, if only they were willing to work for it. As such, in addition to cooking and cleaning and changing diapers Martha began incorporating a variety of lessons into her orphans' everyday lives, instructing them on everything from mathematics to world history to foreign languages. Martha was not a certified teacher, but more than anything else she wanted to give her children the chance to attain the opportunities that she had squandered in her youth. Her wish was that an education would provide her orphans with hope for a better future – the same kind of hope that had been instilled in her by a kindly woman in rimmed glasses who had discovered a total stranger in a dark alleyway and allowed her the chance to dream again.

It was with the weight of this entire history racing across her mind that Martha Okasama nervously approached the home of her old friend, sixteen people anxiously following behind her. While she had corresponded with Zora irregularly over the past several years they had not spoken face-to-face since Mikau's passing, and indefinitely borrowing the garage where he had once constructed timepieces while simultaneously saddling the poor widow with seventeen additional houseguests (the majority of them strangers) was not exactly a small request. Still, once again Martha was at the end of her rope, and as she rapped soundly upon the door she hoped desperately that Zora would be able to help her fix things yet again.

Several moments passed in silence before the door flew upon and Martha was forced to dodge a large frying pan.

"I'm not being taken alive, do you hear me?" a blue-frocked woman cried to the heavens, taking a step forward and readying her blunt instrument for another blow. "I've seen this sort of movie before and it _doesn't_ end well for the kindly old lady! So come at me, if you think you're man enough!"

"Erm…Zora?" Martha asked with a twinge of fear, eyeing the pan intently as she shuffled out of its range.

"No…it can't be!" Zora exclaimed, the tone of her voice changing from unconscionably furious to adorably sweet in an instant. Fumbling for the glasses attached to her neck by a chain of beads, the aged woman blinked as she set her eyes on her former houseguest. "I thought I recognized your voice! It's been so long, Martha dear!" At this Zora pulled Martha into an enormous hug with a strength that was belied by her mousy stature, before turning her attention to the motley crowd behind her.

Slowly releasing her iron grip on her old friend, Zora cleared her throat and added, "You're going to have to explain _this_ one to me."

[-]

When Yusei came to he was no longer in Monsieur Leblanc's former office, but rather sprawled across an ornate bed, a heavy weight across his chest. A moment later his vision came back into focus and he realized that the sensation was not merely metaphorical; key pieces of what appeared to be Medieval knight's armor had been chained and padlocked across his body, preventing him from moving his limbs or torso more than an inch or so in any direction. A few seconds of struggling did little but confirm that there was absolutely no chance of him escaping under his own power; even teleportation was out of the question, given that he could not currently touch his birthmark. Curiously however, the mark itself was the one part of his body – apart from his face – that had been allowed to lay bear, no doubt for observation.

Evidently his somewhat raucous squirming had alerted Sherry to his renewed consciousness, as she shuffled into the bedroom a few moments later. Meeting his stoic glare head-on she remarked, "Forgive my little…security precautions, but while that little mark of yours makes me think that I might have been wrong about you, I'm still not taking any chances."

"You don't trust me?" Yusei asked bemusedly.

"Don't take it personally," she rejoined. "Other than Mizoguchi, I don't trust _anyone_."

"There's that name again," Yusei noted, deciding to take a more subtle tact than the one he had previously employed. "Who is Mizoguchi?"

Sherry immediately took on the expression of someone who had let something slip that they hadn't meant to, and muttered, "_Merde…_" as she kicked the ground with her boot. Then, quite abruptly, she grabbed a candlestick from a nearby nightstand and held it aloft, sternly declaring, "I will ask the questions here, and unless you are answering them you will lay there in _silence_." Extracting a silver key from her pocket she added with a smirk, "Cooperate and I'll at least _consider_ releasing you. Refuse and…well, I'm guessing you won't survive for all that much longer without food or water."

It was astounding to Yusei Fudo how this girl could shift so smoothly between affectionate banter and casual threats on his life…sometimes within the same sentence. There was a fire in her eyes that was not particularly logical, and Yusei both feared and was deeply intrigued by it. Weighing his options, the Signer leader resolved to play along with her questioning, at least for the moment; with any luck, she might just let something else slip and give him a chance to escape.

…Or, better yet, give him a chance to persuade her to hand over that card.

"Alright, first question," Sherry said, her eyes narrowing. "Let's cut right to the chase – are you or are you not a Signer?"

"How do you know about _that_?" Yusei responded in shock.

At this Sherry brought down the candlestick and slammed it into the wooden headboard, leaving a noticeable crevice. "What did I just say about asking questions, _salopard_?" she growled as she raised the weapon into position again. Gritting her teeth, she murmured tersely, "Let's just say that I have my sources. Now, answer me!"

"Y-yes," Yusei replied quickly. "I have been a Signer since birth."

"Very well, then," Sherry accepted. "And how many of your fellow Signers are you currently aware of?"

"All four of them," Yusei answered promptly.

"Hmm…so you do indeed know the correct number of Signers per generation," she mused, before adding dangerously, "But an agent of Yliaster would almost certainly be aware of that as well. So tell me this – what do you know about Yliaster?"

Yusei did not like the malicious glint now dancing within her emerald corneas, nor the way that her grip on the candlestick was tensing up ever-more tightly as she asked this question. Knowing that a careless answer to this particular inquiry was liable to get his cranium smashed in, the spiky-haired teenager took a moment to compose a careful reply before saying, "Less than I'd like to, I'm afraid. All I know currently is that they're a secret organization with ties throughout the business and political worlds, and that they've been behind more atrocities than any other entity in human history."

Sherry's expression flickered slightly at this, but she recovered quickly as she ordered, "List me some examples, then."

Yusei's mouth twitched in satisfaction; now, at last, they might be getting somewhere. "Well, the one that comes most immediately to mind is Zero Reverse. I am certainly aware that the cause of that disaster was no mere earthquake," he explained coolly. "And that's not to mention the discrete removals of individuals like Daichi Misawa, Hayato Maeda, "Tyranno" Kenzan, Edo Phoenix, and Ryo Marufuji…among many others."

Sherry's eyes flared immediately as Yusei made this aside, and her right hand twitched dangerously near a pocket on her riding suit as she slowly enunciated, "And are you alluding to anyone _in particular_?"

Yusei opened his mouth to speak, but without waiting for his response Sherry produced a taser from the pocket and flicked it on, pressing it against the armor sitting astride Yusei's chest with deliberate force. As the metal was not directly touching his flesh he only experienced a mild tingle, but she brandished the weapon rather threateningly close to his pelvic area as she shouted, "Tell me what you know about my parents' deaths! _Now!_"

A bead of sweat finally trickled down Yusei's forehead at this rather potent implicit threat, and he wracked his brain to come up with an answer that wasn't going to pose immediate danger to his groin. Failing to figure out a better explanation after a few moments, however, he ultimately decided to simply tell the truth…or part of it. "I know that they were killed by agents of Yliaster because of a card you currently possess," Yusei stammered rapidly, "and I know this because I interrogated a member of Yliaster on the subject. And if you still carry any lingering doubts over whether or not I'm actually working for those sick bastards, keep in mind that my method of questioning was to hold him out of the topmost window of a sixty-story building by his neck until he coughed up the story." The Signer leader conveniently chose to omit the part about him being referred to the card in the first place by the departed soul of his father.

Sherry fixed Yusei with a long, hard glare as she apparently appraised his claims, before taking on an expression that stated quite plainly that she was impressed in-spite-of-herself. Chuckling slightly and pocketing her taser again, the blonde-haired duelist admonished, "Looks like you've got some _couilles_ after all, monsieur." After a short period of silent reflection, she sighed and placed the candlestick on the ground, relaxing her posture as she did. "In recognition of that, I'm shutting off the physical threats…at least, for the time being."

The young woman then began to fish within another pocket before extracting a fairly unassuming Spell Card…or at least it would have been unassuming, had Yusei's birthmark not immediately burst with crimson light at its appearance. "I was about to ask you whether this was the card you were speaking about, but I guess that answers that question," Sherry stated fairly calmly, though a slight edge remained in her tone that Yusei wasn't sure would ever fully fade. "So…tell me about this thing. For an object that completely ruined my life, I know surprisingly little about it."

Yusei could hardly believe his good fortune in Sherry's newly level temperament, and not for the first time he considered the possibility that she might not be quite "all-there" mentally. Yusei might have been an orphan himself, but he honestly couldn't even begin to fathom what it would have been like had his parents died when he was old enough to remember them, much less had it happened directly _in front_ of him. That this girl's mind would be scarred for life, at least to some degree, seemed only natural given that context.

In any event, however, what was important now was keeping the conversation centered on this rather profitable thread. "That would depend on what you currently know about the Signers and the Five Dragons," Yusei said carefully. "You won't understand my answer unless you understand a few particular things about them."

"The Akaki Ryu is a divine incarnation of the Crimson Star, which descended upon the Earth to protect the People of the Stars from the evil forces that plagued them," Sherry recited immediately, her tone flat and indeed, almost bored. "To this end it created five disciples in order to carry out its will, which were later reborn as cards when the ancient evils broke free once again in the modern age. Those dragons are wielded by humans known as Signers, who are born into each generation and whose statuses are always marked by the signs of the Akaki Ryu on their forearms." Sherry stared bemusedly at Yusei's slack-jawed expression for a few seconds before concluding, "Is that good enough for you?"

Yusei nodded lamely as his mind struggled to determine where in the world Sherry could have attained such knowledge, before deciding to simply accept the situation and move on. Questions pertaining to the precise nature of her "sources" could wait for later. "In that case, you should be informed that that card you hold contains the very essence of one of the Five Dragons."

"I thought you said that all five of this generation's Signers had awakened already?" Sherry demanded heatedly, her eyebrows rising in suspicion.

"They have!" Yusei responded quickly. "But, well…the situation is complicated. Two of the current Signers weren't even marked by the Crimson Dragon from birth; they received their signs after two of our allies…turned against us." Yusei tried to keep the emotion out of his voice as he explained this, but he could tell that he wasn't altogether succeeding. Jack's turn was still a subject that he couldn't broach without some level of pain.

"So out of all this, you ended up one dragon short, and apparently I've been holding its spirit all these years," Sherry summarized, talking more to herself than to Yusei. "Well, I suppose that explains why they've been so adamant about claiming it from me…this thing might as well be called 'the key to world domination' instead of _Z-One_. I've always thought that was a pretty stupid name for a Spell, anyway."

As Sherry mused upon these matters something appeared to click within her mind, and without another word she produced the silver key and began to unlock Yusei's shackles. With the chains now loosened the Signer leader was able to slowly wriggle out from beneath the iron armor, stretching and smoothing out his clothes as he did.

"Now listen here…err, what was your name again?" Sherry announced, pausing for a moment before remembering. "Ah yes, Yusei. Anyway, Yusei, since you came all this way to get your hands on this card and I have absolutely no use for it, why don't I just give it to you?" The blonde-haired woman held the card aloft in front of the Signer's face, but he did not bother to make an attempt to grab it. He had seen enough of her character to know that there must be some sort of catch to this offer.

"However…" she added, "you must first defeat me in a Riding Duel. Only then will I truly know that the words you have spoken come directly from your heart."

Now it was Yusei's turn to raise his eyebrow. "How so?" he asked.

"Surely you, as a Riding Duelist, must know what I mean," Sherry declared, her tone almost reverent. "In the world of speed there are no secrets, no lies…hearts and souls connect as one, and each player's true character is laid bare for their opponent alone to see. It is the only certain way for me to ensure your sincerity."

Sherry held out her hand to seal the deal, but Yusei hesitated to take hold of it. On the one hand he knew that his twenty-four hours were now rapidly dwindling, and that if he were to accept this duel then it was almost certain that he'd lose his best chance to return to Japan and rejoin his friends. On the other hand, there was no guarantee that he would ever see Sherry or this _Z-One_ card again should he walk away from them now, and right now awakening the Fifth Dragon was the best shot the Signers had at stopping Jack.

"Alright then…let's duel," Yusei said stoically, accepting the handshake and praying that he wasn't making an enormous mistake.

[-]

Zora Laruto took a deep swig of her tea and sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time in this long, intensely confusing conversation.

"Let's see if I've got this all straight," she said to Martha with an air of trepidation, taking a deep breath in order to steel herself for the verbal torrent she was about to unleash. "Yusei, Jack, Crow, that girl in the red dress, this little green-haired girl, and that loudmouthed Security Officer are mystical superheroes who have been selected by a giant red dragon to save the world from evil Incan Gods…using a children's card game."

"Hey, dueling is a perfectly legitimate adult career!" Taka interjected as he, Nerve, and Blitz held steadily onto Ushio's arms; the older man had evidently found the description of "loudmouthed" to be quite objectionable. "But yeah, you've basically got it right so far," he conceded after a pause.

Shaking her head dismissively, Zora pressed on, "But now, Jack has been turned into one of those Dark Signal people…"

"Dark _Signer!_" Rua corrected loudly.

"Right, right," Zora responded. "But anyway, he's turned into an enemy and sent an unstoppable, invisible monster to destroy the Earth, so you all need a place to stay while you prepare to fight against him." Zora placed her hands over her face as several of the gathered party nodded their affirmation to this rough summarization, rubbing her fingers over her temples vigorously as she desperately tried to make sense of this unbelievable story. Feeling something click in the back of her mind, she then asked, "And I suppose he's the one behind the castle and the zombie-things?"

"What castle?" Martha exclaimed, clearly surprised.

"I'll show you," Zora replied, leading most of her guests to a wide window set along the rear wall of her home. "Take a look over by the B.A.D. area," she instructed, but her directions were largely unnecessary; the opulent palace was impossible to miss from this angle, no matter where they stared. Towering over every single other building in the Satellite ten times over (an effect all-the-more increased by the fact that many of those buildings had recently been razed to the ground), the fortress that all of the assembled could guess without much difficulty belonged to Jack and his paramour was an undeniably impressive sight.

"I'm more curious about the 'zombie-things' myself, actually," Rally said pointedly. "What the Hell is up with that?"

"Rally! Language!" Martha shouted, causing Rally to look severely chastised. He might not be under her care anymore, but obeying Martha was such a thoroughly ingrained concept for each one of her orphans that such a reaction was virtually automatic.

"Erm…yes, those things," Zora stammered; Martha's reaction to the mild swearing had clearly left her flustered. "That palace was constructed by thousands of corpselike creatures…they looked like something straight out of a horror movie, I tell ya. That's why I attacked you when you first knocked on the door – I thought for sure that they were coming for me next!"

"This woman seems to have quite a…penchant for dramatics," Saiga muttered under his breath, quietly enough that only Ushio could hear.

The burly Security Officer nodded and quickly resolved to take over this inquiry personally. Time might very well be of the essence. "So as for these 'zombies'…did you see where they went after they finished building the castle?" he demanded in a businesslike tone.

"Umm…no," Zora admitted. "I sort of…err…fainted right after I saw those things through the window. By the time I came to, the palace was finished and they were gone!" As she was gesticulating wildly to drive in the point, it took a few moments before Zora realized that seventeen pairs of eyes were staring back at her with an overpowering air of exasperation. "Well, I'd like to see _you_ face those creatures without fainting!" she cried defensively. "Especially with my brittle bones and weak heart!"

Ushio was just about to make an effort to drive the conversation back on course when something that inevitably drew every living eye in the Satellite occurred at the Dark King's palace. An enormous pillar of a violet light erupted from the titanic fortress, and spreading out from the burst's epicenter came an intricate series of landlines composed of purple flames, rapidly forming themselves into a geoglyph with which the assembled Signers were unfamiliar. A moment later an enormous image of Jack's upper body appeared above the castle, and simultaneously the ears of every man, woman, and child in the Satellite and the City were assaulted by the Dark Signer's booming voice, though he was directly addressing none of them.

"Greetings, our subjects," he declared sonorously, a smug grin spread across his imposing features. "We have decided that it is high time for you all to meet your King."

[-]

The trick that Goodwin had used to project his own image via his geoglyph had been remarkably simple to execute, once the condor had generously provided the details and enough time had passed for him to gather the necessary energy. This divine symbiosis, Jack reflected, was rather quite pleasant; both the Dark King and the feathered Jibakushin carried respect only for power, and so as long as they each remained the strongest members of their respective races, their spirits were able to work in absolutely perfect harmony. There were, certainly, worse forms of existence.

In any event, this speech would be the key point of the institution of his planetwide reign, so Jack was determined to make it count. "Good evening to you all…such as it is," he announced regally. "We introduce ourselves to you as your absolute ruler, the High Ruler of Hell and the Dark King: Jack Atlas."

Jack paused to let his identity sink in fully for those of his remaining fans that must surely be observing before continuing, "We are certain that those select few of you who survived the King of the Underworld's initial purge must be wondering what in the Hell is going on. And the truth is that Hell _is_ exactly what is going on – namely, its establishment as the rightful status quo on Earth. Soon enough, all of you will yield to the sweet caress of death, to be replaced by the soulless wraiths that are the only beings properly worthy of serving us, but in the meantime we encourage you to cease any half-formed thoughts of resistance and surrender utterly to our rule. Those who please us by answering our commands _may_ be spared our wrath. Those who vainly attempt to fight against us…will suffer the full extant of the Dark King's fury."

And with this, Jack mentally signaled to his ghoulish servants, who came spilling out of his fortress at a tremendous pace, spreading virulently across the Satellite as they worked to back up their monarch's threats with frightening efficiency. Simultaneously the numerous zombies in Neo Domino did precisely the same thing, forcing the few remaining refugees to flee under deeper cover. Those that didn't were swiftly decapitated and disemboweled by the Hellish army, littering the broken streets with blood and organs as they patrolled them without cessation.

"Now, we are sure that some of you are wondering exactly _what_ commands we wish for you survivors to follow," Jack continued coolly, as if nothing had occurred in the interim. "Some of our…old friends have made the unfortunate decision to oppose our reign, something that we simply cannot condone. As such, any who can bring us the following individuals, _alive_, will be rewarded with the chance to survive the elimination of life on this Godforsaken planet.

"Those individuals are as follows: Yusei Fudo, nineteen year-old winner of the Fortune Cup and resident of Satellite; Crow Hogan, twenty-one year-old resident of Satellite; Aki Izayoi, eighteen year-old finalist in the Fortune Cup; and Ruka, ten year-old participant in the Fortune Cup," Jack declared, waving his hands to produce shimmering images of the four Signers for all to see. "Once again, you will receive our gratitude _only_ if you manage to capture them alive. Bring us their corpses, and you shall swiftly join them in that state."

Jack's smirk, which has disappeared briefly to emphasize the seriousness of his threat, returned as he concluded, "And now, as the glorious Age of Hell descends upon the entire world, we encourage you to enjoy your last days to their fullest. Play, frolic, duel…whatever brings you pleasure as the countdown brings the Earth closer and closer to the End of All Things. But if you wish to live past that point, we suggest that you get right to work locating the individuals we requested. Time is short, and our patience is extremely limited. So farewell unto you all, and may your last days on this miserable planet be…productive ones."

At the Dark King's last word the condor geoglyph faded, once again leaving only Jack and Carly standing atop the monumental fortress. Jack mimed brushing sweat off of his brow, which elicited a light chuckle from his wife; the dead, of course, had no water within them to perspire. The ebony-eyed young man, however, used the gesture to segue into a new subject. "Now that that's over with," he breathed, "I believe that it would be best to retire for night. Dawn fast approaches, and this night's events have left me quite weary."

"Likewise, my Dark King," said Carly agreeably, and arm-in-arm the couple descended into the halls of their new home.

[-]

Crow Hogan had seen everything.

Indeed, from atop Blackfeather Dragon's crest, Crow was quite certain that he had seen Jack's speech from a better angle than anyone else in the entire world. The dragon had been about level with the face of Jack's enormous image, though it had never turned to face him as he proceeded across the skies of Satellite toward the Kyojin district. After several minutes of worrying that the Dark King might somehow attempt to shoot down his recently acquired familiar, Crow had been forced to conclude that the transparent representation of his childhood friend was not possessed with the power of sight, meaning that he could focus all of his energies on listening to the content of Jack's address.

Resistant as he was to crying, the sheer coldness with which Jack had explained his intentions for the world had nearly brought Crow to tears once more. But pushing him well-over that threshold was the undead monarch callously offering a bounty for the capture of his old friends, and far away from the eyes of all but the silent dragon that was serving as his steed the Signer had wept freely for the depth to which he had lost Jack to the abyss.

All too soon however Blackfeather Dragon was touching down onto the street, and Crow struggled to clear his face of lingering moisture as he carefully dismounted from the massive beast. As soon as he did so the dragon inclined its head at its master and then transformed back into crimson energy, returning its essence to the white card in Crow's pocket. Shaking his head to try and clear it, Crow approached the door marked with the address Martha had left him and rapped upon it with his knuckles.

A moment later the door slammed open and Crow was struck across the head with a wooden rolling pin.

"_Ah!_ What the fuck was that for?" Crow exclaimed, raising his arms instinctively to shield his face from further assaults.

"Zora, I think that you should probably stop answering the door like that," advised the unmistakably soothing voice of Martha Okasama, and Crow fought to clear his vision of flashing stars as he gazed upon his former foster mother lightly restraining a blue-frocked old woman that he assumed to be Zora.

"Right, right…my mistake," Zora mumbled, not looking at Crow as she returned inside. Martha gestured for Crow to follow, and a moment later the orange-haired Signer was staring at a veritable throng of friends and allies, their numbers seemingly swelled by the comparatively small room within which they were crowded.

Immediately the children who had evacuated the orphanage with their party swarmed around his legs and hugged them, while Nerve and Taka clapped him on the back and Blitz, unable to control himself, pulled Crow into a tearful embrace. Crow returned the affectionate gesture somewhat awkwardly as one of the orphaned girls, whom the Signer did not know by name, summed up the feelings of everyone in the room with a simple, "Thank you, Crow Nii-san."

Crow ruffled the girl's hair in response before turning to Ushio. "Did everyone get here alright?" he asked stiffly.

"Yes; the plan went off without a hitch, thanks to your distraction," Ushio stated. "Incidentally, just _how_ did you distract that thing in the first place?"

Instead of answering, Crow merely extracted _Blackfeather Dragon_ from his pocket and displayed it for his fellow Signers. "Somehow – and don't ask me to explain it, because I don't understand any of it myself – this card turned into a new Signer Dragon," the orange-haired teenager testified. "And not only that, but it turned into an _actual_ dragon, went toe-to-toe with the King of the Underworld for a few rounds, and actually came out on top!"

"So that monstrosity _is_ the King of the Underworld, then?" Ushio inquired ponderingly. "That's the only thing we could figure it was, but wasn't sealing it the whole point of going to the control towers yesterday?"

"Don't forget, we're dealing with Jack instead of Rudger now," Crow pointed out. "If there was another way to summon up that creature, Jack will have found it – _that_ you can be sure of." Crow paused for a moment before adding, "And on that note, I take it that you all heard Jack's speech?"

"Yeah, we did," Ushio stated with forced solemnity; while he could care less about Jack Atlas, his dear Mikage-san had been on the brink of tears ever since Jack's enormous figure had appeared across the skies of Satellite, and he didn't want to risk upsetting her further. "Looks like we're marked men now…or at least, you, Yusei, Aki, and Ruka are. I guess he hasn't found out that I'm a Signer yet."

"It's so strange to see him like that, though," Ruka said tremblingly, her lip still quivering with shock. "I mean, I know he was never exactly all that friendly…but to hear him say those horrible things so _casually_…"

"Well if you ask me, that boy's always been trouble!" Zora interjected. "Every time I visited he just sat by himself, never interacting with me or any of the other children…I always thought that he had the makings of a psychopathic mass-murdering despot!"

This latest outburst was finally too much for Mikage Sagiri, who pulled open the door and ran out into the street, her eyes already overflowing with mist. Ushio immediately tore after her, leaving a decidedly awkward silence behind.

After a few moments Martha broke it by quietly repeating her request for room and board to Zora, who appeared to have been completely stunned by Mikage's distressed reaction to her condemnation of Jack. Several seconds later the entreatment appeared to finally register with the older woman, who managed to spit out a high-pitched, "Of course, right this way!" as she struggled to recover and lead her numerous new houseguests to her spare apartment.

The apartment, as it turned out, was far more akin to a garage than a proper residence. Martha explained briefly that this was where Zora's late husband had built and repaired clocks for a living, and consequently the main room was strewn with mechanical equipment and workbenches. There were also a variety of smaller rooms adjacent to it, which Crow surmised had once been used for storage and which the group was now working on modifying into sleeping quarters. Space was decidedly limited, so it was quickly determined that Martha, Dr. Schmitt, Aki, Ushio, and Mikage would be taking up residence in Zora's own house, and that the younger children would all be required to double up beds.

…Of course, they would first need to deal with the matter of _acquiring_ those beds.

In this particular case, the devastation that Jack had wrought upon Satellite actually worked to their advantage. The other residents of the Kyojin district had all barricaded themselves within their dwellings or else abandoned them completely; either way, this left all of the stores and businesses in the area deserted indefinitely, and the able-bodied members of their group quickly got to work purging a nearby furniture warehouse of as many beds and chairs as they could carry. In Crow's estimation, they currently had _far_ more serious matters to be concerned about than the potential consequences of petty theft.

The most severe example was the Dark King's servants, which even now were spreading across the streets of Satellite like a walking plague. None of the wraiths had yet converged on their location, but Crow wasn't intending on taking too many chances with those things.

Soon enough the furniture operation was completed, and Martha "suggested" that everyone turn in for the night. This was met with some token grumbling from the younger set, but all of them acquiesced in the end; it had certainly been a long night for everyone present. With her most soothing touch, the dark-haired matron made her nightly rounds to every orphan still under her charge and then followed Zora, Dr. Schmitt, and Aki back into the house.

Dispersing amongst Zora's various guest rooms and retiring for the night was largely a silent affair from then onward, but as Martha ventured back into the room she had occupied all those years ago she voiced a thought that had been nagging at her for hours. "Zora, where is Leo?" she asked softly. "I was hoping to see him."

Zora's expression immediately turned stern as she gave a short, derisive laugh at the mention of her son. "Don't talk to me about that deadbeat!" she cried dismissively. "I couldn't care less where he is right now, and if I'm lucky I'm never going to have to see that dismal failure again!"

Martha let out a sharp gasp as Zora slammed the bedroom door behind her without another word.

[-]

After three long years, Leo Laruto had finally returned to Japan. Though admittedly, his timing _probably_ could have used a little work.

Ever since Leo had been cast out of his home for breaking his father's most-prized clock in an attempt to fix it up in honor of his memory, the freckled boy had been traveling tirelessly across the globe to learn the ins-and-outs of the fine art of timepiece repair. The United States, England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, China…there was hardly a single major country that Leo hadn't spent at least a short period of time in, studying from every master he could find and practicing endlessly in his spare time. It was a hard and lonely existence, but it was worth every tear-soaked second; Leo knew that finally fixing that cuckoo clock was the only way that he would ever get his mother to love him again.

Today was supposed to have been the greatest day in Leo's short life: now that he was supremely confident in his mechanical skills, he was going to walk back into that garage with his head held high, fix the clock flawlessly without a single word, and then tearfully embrace his mother as she welcomed him back with open arms. Demonic, slime-covered birds tearing apart the airport ten minutes after his plane landed had _not_ been part of the agenda.

Leo had survived their initial onslaught through sheer dumb luck; he had fled into a bathroom immediately after they broke into the building, and the collapsing rubble had ended up forming a rough dome around his position. An hour or so later he managed to dig his way out…but of course he had had no chance of hailing a taxi at this point, so he just turned his way toward the Satellite and walked defiantly through a city that was rapidly transforming into something more akin to a war zone than anything else.

Eventually, however, he had stumbled upon a curious sight – an unassuming, perfectly cubicle building labeled with the English word "Always" which had, miraculously, sustained almost no damage from the chaos that was ebbing and flowing around it. Faced with few other options, particularly when a dark-eyed man whom Leo thought he might vaguely recognize appeared in the sky and commanded living corpses to roam the streets in shambling droves, the young blond ensconced himself in the shadows and hoped that the owners of the mysterious building (which, oddly enough, appeared to have no visible doors) might return soon.

About an hour later, Leo was beginning to consider moving on when a rather strange sight greeted him. The numerous zombies that were trudging across the road suddenly began to explode into plasmic goo as several motorcycles shot down the crowded street, blasting their way through the horde with weapons on their D-Wheels that appeared to produce genuine lightning. Leo was awed by their masterful precision and teamwork as they swiftly eradicated every last ghoul lingering in the area, before the member at the head of their formation pressed a button on his helmet and a wall of the "Always" building opened to allow them inside.

With great haste Leo made his way over to the rapidly closing entranceway and dove inside, immediately finding himself in pitch-blackness. A moment later dozens of fluorescent lights flipped on at once, bathing the hanger he had arrived in with a lukewarm glow and revealing to the freckled young man the owners of this small fortress.

Leo observed five people dismounting from the D-Wheels and staring at him with simultaneous stares of incredulity. Three of them, he noted, were wearing identical riding suits that fit right in with the color scheme of the hanger, while the other two seemed distinctly out of place: an old man with a golden tooth and a blue-haired, muscle-bound hulk.

"Who are you?" demanded one of the riding-suit wearers as he cautiously removed his helmet, revealing well-trimmed black hair.

Leo scratched the back of his head at the awkwardness of the situation, a childhood habit that he had never fully outgrown. "My name is Leo Laruto," he explained with as much calmness as he was able to muster. "I found this place while I was escaping from all that shit out there, and I decided to hide out in case someone might come around and open it up. Not getting damaged in all that chaos made it kinda conspicuous, ya know."

A redhead in the same attire who featured a distinctive horn-shaped spike in his hair shook his head, apparently bemused. "Who would have thought…our headquarters gets spotted for _not_ getting torn to pieces," he quipped. "Maybe we should place some rubble and debris over the entrance just to throw them off."

"I know you're being sarcastic, but that actually might not be such a bad idea," suggested the blue-haired man pointedly. "In a situation like this, a gleaming white building with big block letters is kind of hard to miss. What _is_ written there anyway?"

"It's the English word for 'Always,' Jin," explained the last uniformed member, a blond sporting a smart goatee. "It's supposed to mean that no matter what, this shelter will endure forever, protecting all those within it until the end of time."

"And plus, 'Always' by Erasure is Jean's favorite song," the redhead added with a sly grin.

"Shut up!" exclaimed the brunette, whom Leo took to be Jean. "Anyway, we're getting off-topic here." Jean turned back to Leo and mused, "So, you're a refugee from this War as well, it seems. Well, I suppose we could always use one more."

"Umm…thanks!" Leo managed to sputter, a goofy grin plastered across his face. "But first, I should probably know…who are you guys, exactly?"

Jean smiled indulgently. "I guess you don't pay all that much attention to professional dueling, then," he responded.

"Nah, not really," Leo said, scratching the back of his head again. "I mean, I play the game and everything, but only casually. I don't really watch any of the competitive stuff."

"In that case, I am Jean, and these are my teammates Andore and Breo," Jean replied, indicating the other riding suit-wearers in turn. "We are one of the highest-ranked dueling teams in Europe: Team Unicorn!"

"Err…I guess that explains the motorcycles, then!" Leo blurted out, unable to stop himself. The team members took one long, simultaneous glance at their D-Wheels, which were indeed clearly modeled after the legendary creature, before glaring fiercely at Leo, who held up his hands in apology and stepped back a foot or so. Clearly, these guys were fairly sensitive about their chosen motif.

"As I was saying…" Jean continued, a small vein still pulsing slightly near his temple, "we are the critically beloved Team Unicorn, and we came to Japan today for a leg on our latest promotional tour. Unfortunately, that attack ruined any chances of that happening. We've spent the last few hours trying to round up survivors and get them back here where it's safe, but it looks like you, Jin, and Yanagi here are our only successes so far." Jean gestured this time to the blue-haired man and the eccentrically attired elder, respectively, both of whom offered short bows that Leo quickly returned.

"Alrighty then!" Leo declared. "But I have just one question: you keep describing this place here like it's some sort of, I dunno, bomb shelter or something…"

"Which is pretty much exactly what it is, yeah," Andore cut in.

"But you guys said you were pro duelists! Why would you need something like this in Japan?" Leo asked confusedly.

"We have them all over the world, actually," Jean stated coolly. "In any event, we have…enemies. The professional dueling world can get quite ugly at times, and it never hurts to be prepared, just in case. Never counted on one of these becoming a base of operations, though…but it's definitely equipped for the task, no doubt about that."

"Wait, what?" Leo exclaimed. "I thought this was just supposed to be a place to hide out until the heat wears off."

"Did you hear _anything_ from that little speech in the sky?" shouted Andore, suddenly quite aggressive. Breo held his teammate's shoulder to prevent him from getting in Leo's face, but it was evident from his expression that he largely shared the redhead's sentiment. "This heat is _never_ 'wearing off'! We've reached the end of the fucking _world_, and I'll be damned if I let this planet go down without a fight!"

"Perhaps _I _should try to explain this situation," Breo suggested softly, and both Jean and Andore reluctantly backed off. "I'm guessing, since you said that you don't follow dueling that well, that you are unaware of who exactly that man in they sky was?"

"I think he said his name at one point, but I missed it…and yet he looked _really_ familiar, somehow…" Leo thought out loud. Finally, however, it clicked. "Wait, of course! Jack Atlas!"

"You're familiar with _him_ at least, then?" surmised Breo. "Well, I suppose it's natural that you'd know more about a local star than foreign ones…"

"Oh, is Jack a duelist now?" Leo asked with an air of genuine surprise. "I just know him because he used to live at an orphanage that I visited all the time when I was growing up."

"Really?" the man named Jin noted. "That's interesting…"

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss those signature golden curls or those piercing purple eyes…though I suppose they were quite a bit darker tonight than I remember them being…" Leo considered uncomfortably. The Jack he had known as a child may have been somewhat aloof and standoffish, but he was no murderer…was he?

"Yes, well, according to Jin and Yanagi, those symptoms seem to indicate that Jack has recently been transformed into something called a 'Dark Signer,'" Breo continued. "All of his human dreams and desires have been supplanted by a monomaniacal fixation on killing everyone on Earth, and like it or not it is _imperative_ that we stop him."

Leo thought this over for a moment. Before those bird-things had wrecked the airport, he had been optimistic – indeed, even _hopeful_ – about this day, supremely confident in his visions of exactly how his long-awaited reunion with Zora Laruto would turn out. But now the entirety of Neo Domino was in ruins and the rest of the world was set to follow, and Leo couldn't be sure he would ever even _see_ his mother again.

…And then this thought summoned up a horrifyingly vivid image of just what might happen to his mother if someone didn't put a stop to Jack here and now, and Leo made his decision.

"Alright, I'm in," Leo declared firmly. "Tell me how I can help."

[-]

This duel against Sherry was easily one of the most grueling that Yusei had ever experienced, even without the looming threat of death that had plagued most of his other recent bouts. Sherry was clearly a seasoned competitor with a plethora of experience, and she was certainly not holding any of it back today.

Of course, Sherry's skills were not the sole reason that Yusei was now fighting tooth-and-nail just to stay in this game; he was feeling rather out of his element as well. The dueling arena that Sherry had led him to after hours followed European standards, which apparently utilized an upgraded form of _Speed World_ that was forcing Yusei to subtly readjust his traditional playstyle in a number of ways. For one thing, _Speed World 2_ did not remove Speed Counters due to damage, and Yusei had taken advantage of this fact in order to utilize a rushing strategy with _Turbo Synchron_ that he would otherwise consider far too risky.

Still, this tactic was not without its own dangers: carrying out his move and ridding Sherry's field of her ace card, _Fleur de Chevalier_, had required sacrificing nearly all of his Life Points, leaving a mere 100 remaining. And as Sherry had been quick to remind him, _Speed World 2_'s other major addition to the game made this an extremely tenuous position to exist in – the new Field Spell allowed each player to use their Speed Counters to fuel a set of powerful effects, and the one that was currently causing Yusei to sweat was the first. For the small cost of four Speed Counters, Sherry could inflict 800 damage to him for each Speed Spell in her hand at any time she chose. At the moment her reserves were mercifully empty, but that fact was merely turning the duel into a game of pure chance. As soon as Sherry drew the right type of card, this match would be over.

It was at this time that Yusei almost regretted lending Ushio his _Stardust Dragon_. While his mind knew that he had made the right decision in keeping the tail birthmark and its corresponding Signer Dragon together amidst the growing crisis, he still couldn't help but desire the companionship of his familiar at this critical juncture.

As Yusei drew his next card and examined its effect closely, however, he felt a fairly unusual but potentially devastating plan open within his mind. _Stardust Dragon_ might have been Yusei's preferred ace, but it certainly wasn't his only one.

"I activate _Speed Spell – High Speed Crash_ from my hand!" Yusei shouted confidently. "When my Speed Counters are at two or more, this will destroy one card on my field and another card on the field as well!"

"You're going to sacrifice your face-down card to destroy _Sacred Knight Jeanne_, right?" Sherry surmised, a sly smile spreading across her face.

"Not quite," Yusei retorted, returning the smirk. "The effects of your cards may be written in French, but my D-Wheel is custom-made. And one of the "special features" that I decided to add was a translator module for officially recognized Duel Monsters cards. Every single card you've played so far has been rendered on my screen in plain Japanese, and it says right here that if I destroy that monster with an effect, you'll be able to return a Spell Card from your Graveyard to your hand…in other words, you'll win."

Sherry's eyes widened at Yusei's revelation before her smile spread even further. "Alright, so you've done your homework," she jibed. "But have you got a finale that can live up to all of this hype?"

"Indeed," Yusei replied laconically. Raising his hand to the hologram of his Speed Spell, he then cried out, "I'm destroying my face-down card and…_Speed Warrior_!"

Yusei let this move sink in for a moment before displaying the Trap Card he had sacrificed and explaining his motive. "The card I just destroyed was _Junk Burst_!" he declared, an enormous garage bombarded with explosions appearing behind him. Two small, indiscernible silhouettes emerged from the inferno and touched down before their master as he continued, "When this card is destroyed while face-down, I can Special Summon two Level 4 or lower Machine-Type Monsters…one from the deck, and one from the Graveyard. They can't attack or use their effects, and they will both be removed from play at the End Phase, but none of that is going to matter at this point."

"You're planning to Synchro Summon again," Sherry stated. It wasn't a question, and so Yusei didn't bother to respond. Instead, he merely made a sweeping motion with his arms as _Speed Warrior_ returned to the field for the fourth time that duel and a new Tuner Monster rose to join it. This one was clad in golden armor and appeared to be wielding what could charitably be called steamroller wheels…though Sherry thought they rather more closely resembled black rolling pins.

"Next, I'm going to Summon _Shield Wing_ from my hand!" Yusei added with a grin as a slender green dragon joined the other two monsters with a dramatic sweep of its enormous wings, before all three creatures leaped into the sky in preparation for the impending Synchro Summon. "So now I'm Tuning my _Speed Warrior_, my _Shield Wing_, and my _Road Synchron_!" The gilded warrior began to split into the trademark emerald rings as Yusei chanted, "Clustering hopes will evoke a new horizon. Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Dash onward, _Road Warrior_!"

As much as she would have liked to, Sherry found that she had nothing to ridicule about this particular monster. A broad-chested knight resplendent with shining golden armor and futuristic attachments that gave it something of a "steampunk" look, its majestic appearance seemed to more-than-justify its obscenely high 3000 ATK points.

Things got even worse as the warrior raised its massive cleaver to the sky, transforming the blade into a brilliant pillar of light as it did. "Once per turn, _Road Warrior_ can Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Warrior or Machine from my deck," Yusei elucidated, and Sherry immediately knew that this duel was over. Calculating the results of Yusei's coming Battle Phase in her head, she determined that to claim victory he merely needed to Special Summon a monster with 450 or more ATK, of which she was sure he was in no short supply. It was to her great surprise, therefore, when Yusei finally announced, "I Special Summon _Oilman_!"

The pathetic monster that emerged from the radiant pathway was as distinct from the striking, dignified _Road Warrior_ as possible. It was, quite literally, an anthropomorphic oilcan, with cartoonish gloves and a superhero cape to boot. But most strange about the miniscule creature was its ATK points, which rose to a mere 400. Sherry was certain that Yusei could not have gotten the math wrong, so what was he playing at?

"Now _Road Warrior_, attack _Sacred Knight Jeanne_! Sword of Sojourn!" Yusei called out, and the knight dutifully brought down its massive blade and cleaved Sherry's last defense clean in two. Sherry cringed slightly as her Life Points ticked down to 450 and _Oilman_ actually began to shake itself in anticipation of its upcoming attack.

"And finally, go _Oilman_! Petroleum Punch!" Yusei declared, and Sherry only had a second to groan at the lame attack title before she received a white-gloved fist to the face. Her Life Points went down to a mere 50…but Yusei's turn was over now. Just as she had anticipated, he hadn't finished her off…even though he had had ample opportunity to do so.

And then Sherry took a closer look at the satisfied smirk upon Yusei's hard-lined face, and she instantly understood. He _wanted_ to leave the result of this duel up to the next card she drew – up to fate.

"Your move," Yusei stated encouragingly, but while her fingers clenched around the top card of her deck Sherry hesitated to draw. A great many possibilities and scenarios raced through her mind in that moment…until it all came crashing together in one single, cataclysmic epiphany, and she slowly released her grip. Yusei had allowed her a single draw as an implicit gesture of trust…and now it was time for Sherry to reciprocate.

"I won't draw," Sherry said with conviction, slowing her D-Wheel to a gradual halt and signaling for her opponent to do the same. "I don't need to. I've learned everything I require from this duel already, and revealing the final outcome would do nothing to change that. So we'll leave the results up to the fine threads of destiny, and let the matter rest at that."

Slowly unsheathing her long, flowing hair from her helmet, Sherry strode confidently over to Yusei and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If this duel has taught me one thing, it is that your heart conceals no lies from me," the blonde duelist declared firmly. "The passion and spirit with which you fought against me in that slipstream revealed your sincerity more completely than a thousand polygraph tests." Sherry paused for a moment to dig through her pocket before once again revealing _Z-One_ to the still-stunned Signer. "In recognition of your valor, I am willing to offer you this card…on one condition."

Yusei tensed slightly; he had been expecting something like this. "And just what might that condition be?" he asked suspiciously.

"I assume that you will be returning to Japan once this card is in your possession?" Sherry responded, and Yusei nodded in affirmation. Sherry produced a small smile and continued, "Take me with you, then."

Yusei's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to voice an automatic protest, but Sherry waved him down. "The only reason you would travel all this way just to acquire a card – no matter how powerful – would be if there was a legitimately severe crisis brewing on the home-front," she inferred. "And since I'm wagering that, regardless of the precise nature of the disaster, Yliaster is probably at the root of it, I have a vested interest in assisting you in your efforts."

Yusei pondered this notion for a moment. Yes, Yliaster was indeed the root cause of the Dark Signer problem; they had, after all, _caused_ Zero Reverse. And as the mental connection the duelists had made during their turbulent bout worked both ways, Yusei was confident that as long as Yliaster remained their ultimate enemy, Sherry could be trusted to pour her entire heart and soul into battling by the Signers' side. But on the other hand, that same unbridled passion that flowed through Sherry's essence like blood through veins made her excessively volatile, as his throbbing neck was continually reminding him. Should the girl somehow turn against them over some perceived slight or injustice, Yusei could not honestly guarantee the safety of his friends.

But one pervading feeling rose above all of these objections, and that was an indisputable sense that this was a young woman to whom one did _not_ say no. If she had her heart set on going with him to Neo Domino, then come Hell or high water she was going to accompany him. The only question remaining was whether he was going to elect to do this the easy way…or the hard way.

"Fine, then," Yusei finally gave in, offering a handshake that Sherry quickly accepted. Then, to his surprise, she offered him a light kiss on each cheek, lingering slightly longer than the average Frenchman would likely consider acceptable. "Err…thank you," he added awkwardly.

"We will depart under cover of darkness tonight," Sherry directed, and Yusei turned to the horizon to note that the first rays of the dawn were beginning to shine across Paris. Yusei was about to suggest a rather more expedient form of travel when he felt a light tingling sensation spike and then fade completely within his right forearm, and instinctively he knew that he had run out his twenty-four hours. Between his period of unconsciousness and the lengthy duel he had just endured, Yusei supposed that that really wasn't all that surprising.

As such, Yusei simply offered a stoic nod to his new companion as they both mounted their D-Wheels and proceeded back to the manor of the Leblancs.

[-]

Mikage Sagiri wasn't entirely sure how far she would have run had Tetsu Ushio not caught up to her and grabbed her around the shoulder, gently but firmly preventing her from drifting too far from their new base. As it was, she was now screaming her head off and attempting to free herself from his commanding grip, which her brain recognized as a rather pointless thing to do but which her heart was demanding she continue with ever-increasing strength and volume. Rational thoughts be damned; as far as Mikage was concerned all women were permitted the occasional hysterical breakdown, and she was planning on taking full advantage of this one.

Ushio meanwhile was wondering how, at a time like this, the blue-haired woman could still be so breathtakingly beautiful. Her golden eyes, though puffy and overflowing with constantly falling tears, still shown so brightly against the encroaching darkness, and her quivering lips still remained soft and supple as she widened them in a banshee-like wail. For perhaps the millionth time since Ushio had met her, he was seized by an overpowering desire to kiss those tender folds of rosy skin, but he mastered the impulse and instead simply pulled her into a tight embrace. Mikage fought desperately against his hold for a few moments before she realized the futility of doing so, and with a rattling sigh yielded to his comforting touch.

Several minutes passed before Ushio released her, and that time apparently proved sufficient for the moisture in her eyes to cease flowing so torrentially. The burly Security Officer slowly raised one of his gloved hands and gently wiped her cheeks clean of the lingering residue, saying softly as he did, "I'm sorry for what he did to you, Mikage-san."

Mikage immediately tensed and backed a step away from him. "W…What do you mean by that?" she stammered.

This question immediately wrong-footed Ushio, and he knew from experience that this was not a state in which he was able to articulate his best answers. Forcing himself to take a deep breath and approach this cautiously, the Signer slowly began, "Jack hurt you. He broke your heart. I understand that, and I want to help you get past it."

Ushio reached guardedly for another warm hug, but Mikage moved out of his range. "And what makes you think I _want_ to get past it?" she exclaimed.

"Oh come on, Mikage-san!" Ushio shouted without thinking. "You can't still…"

"I still love him, Ushio!" Mikage burst out, cutting him off. "I'm not saying it makes sense. I'm not even saying that it _ever_ did. But I do!"

"But why?" Ushio exploded, unable to hold it in any longer. That very question had been burning within him for so long, just below the surface, that he could not help but let it spill out now that stress and exhaustion had shot his self-control to Hell. "How the fuck could you actually still _love_ him after everything he's done?"

"I don't know, alright!" the blue-haired woman shrieked. "What does it matter to you, anyway?"

"Because I care about you!" Ushio protested. "This crush you've had over that jerk all these years…I'm telling you, it's not healthy! You deserve someone who returns your affections with the full force of their soul, who recognizes you for the unbelievably incredible woman you are, who puts you above everything else in their life no matter what…"

"Someone like _you_?" Mikage spat derisively, her sharp eyes suddenly furious. "Go on, complete the cliché. This is the moment where I'm supposed to throw myself into your waiting arms and kiss you passionately while opera music plays, right? And then we'll live happily ever after and I'll love you unconditionally because you've just been _so_…understanding. Is that _honestly_ what you think will happen here? Well fuck you, Tetsu Ushio!"

Ushio was stunned silent by Mikage's outburst, not the least because it was probably the first time he had ever heard the immaculately professional woman swear. "Look, I didn't mean it that way!" he argued. "I mean…ya know…that is how I feel, err, sort of…but not like that! I do really care about you, you know that, but…well, it's not like I'm trying to make a pass at you or anything. I just…"

"Shove it!" Mikage screeched, tears now flowing freely once more as the last vestiges of restraint faded from her composure. "Get this through your head: I don't love you! I've never loved you, and I never _will_ love you, so why don't you just get the Hell away from me!"

Ushio shrunk back involuntary as her pronouncement sank into his heart like a stinging barb, and Mikage gasped as she apparently regained some amount of her self-control. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," she said in a very small voice.

"Yes you did," Ushio rejoined, his own voice ringing distant and hollow. "Maybe you didn't mean to _say_ it like that, but I guess you're really just repeating what you've been telling me for years. You don't love me, and I've been a fool for hoping I could change that. But that's not what is important here."

Ushio sighed deeply before continuing, "The thing is, I wasn't lying before when I said that I was telling you this because I genuinely care about your wellbeing. So listen to me, as a friend only if that is what I must be, when I say this: you don't really love Jack Atlas either. You are infatuated with his dueling skills, his good looks, his 'King' persona…but you don't really love _him_. And until you let go of that all-consuming obsession, it will poison every other relationship you have. All I want is for you to be happy, and that's the God's-honest-truth, whether it's with me or some other guy or no one at all. But as long as your heart is fixed on Jack Atlas, that's never going to happen."

Ushio turned to make his way back to Zora's place, stopping only to add, "Just promise me you'll think about that, Mikage-san. Please." Then he was gone.

Mikage half-debated chasing after the Security Officer to continue their conversation in a hopefully less-heated manner – the feelings that his parting speech had awakened within her core were complicated, and it would help to have someone to interpret them – but was rather abruptly prevented from doing do by a massive pair of hands that wrapped themselves around her mouth and waist, pulling her roughly into the darkness that lay behind her.

[-]

The fortress of the Dark King and Queen was so vastly immense that it took several hours for the couple to survey every single room located within the palace. In the interest of inflating the size of the castle as much as possible, Jack had indulged some of Carly's more whimsical desires in the distribution of rooms, vestiges of her human self's interests that her transformation had not managed to _completely_ wipe out. One wing, for example, had been dedicated to reproducing the setting of her favorite board game, _Cluedo_…which meant that the Dark King held the distinct honor of having a room in his home entirely dedicated to billiards, with a purple cloth attached to a noose above the pool tables to boot.

Jack had never been particularly fond of Western pop culture despite his comparative ability to understand the language in which most of it was released, but Carly went crazy for things like Disney movies or rock and roll music, so he permitted her to enjoy them to her unbeating heart's content now that they were on the fast track to becoming the supreme rulers of the Earth.

The most important chambers to his Dark Queen, however, had had nothing to do with Maleficent or the Rolling Stones. Rather, they had been the enormous memorial rooms dedicated solely to paying tribute to each of the fallen Dark Signers. Jack had had virtually no personal connections to any of the fallen soldiers of the dead, and for those that he did (particularly Kiryu and Rudger), most of his memories were not particularly pleasant ones. But Carly seemed quite determined that they should receive proper remembrance, so altars to each one (other than Goodwin, for obvious reasons) had been erected within the wing directly opposite their own sleeping quarters.

Misty's chamber was clearly Carly's personal favorite, as the Dark Queen was currently testing out her own matter-generation powers by conjuring black-and-green flowers to lay across a portraiture of the former model. Elegant dresses in every shade imaginable (though again, as befitting her God, green and black were ascendant) littered the walls, as a potent reminder of her radiant beauty, while a small statue of a boy that Carly referred to as "Toby" stood in a corner, lost but not forgotten.

Kiryu's chamber was not one that Jack intended ever to visit again, as it prominently featured a blown-up picture of Team Satisfaction in their glory days, comrades-in-arms without a care in the world. Though a seething hatred for Yusei and Crow was now almost hardwired into the Dark King's mind, actually staring at their faces produced unnecessarily confusing emotions that he rather preferred not to deal with. Fortunately, the other objects in the room did not evoke any such reaction from the condor's host: the mechanical equipment that the Kiryu had tinkered with endlessly in life and death was spread around liberally, and along one wall a set of broken bars served as a constant reminder that the young man's energy would never be constrained.

Demak's chamber was simple but elegant; the Dark Signers' card library had contained numerous copies of _Monkey Mage Zeman_, and at Carly's behest Jack had dropped a dozen of them into the flames of Momentum, transforming their spirits into their Dark Synchro counterparts in a brilliant flash of endless energy. Carly had then proceeded to arrange the ebony cards upon pedestals in a spiral pattern around the room, leading up to a hanging Ra Yellow Duel Academia uniform sized for a man of Demak's stature. Within the breast pocket of the jacket Carly had also slipped a single normal copy of Zeman…why, she really couldn't be quite sure.

Bommer's chamber was rather difficult to arrange, given how little either Dark Signer had ever interacted with him, but the outburst he had made to the audience at the Fortune Cup right before attempting to assassinate Goodwin had proven sufficient to understand the basis of the man's substantial drive and fortitude. As such, the walls were lined with representations of various children, as close to genuine members of the muscular duelist's tribe as the Dark King and Queen could manage. Each child was gazing rapturously at an indigo star that Carly had generated near the ceiling, their expressions frozen in what could only be interpreted as hope.

Rudger's chamber was easily the most barren; enormous cobwebs had been encouraged to grow across half of the room, darkening one half with their shadows so as to represent the duality that had nearly torn the former Dark Signer leader apart. The floor meanwhile had been hollowed out in the center, leaving a deep well through which they could gaze down into the room directly below Rudger's memorial: the Momentum chamber itself. Carly thought that the overly tanned man might have enjoyed the view into his greatest work, but Jack was rather more interested in the possible emergency escape route it presented.

Of course, their own Gods had not been forgotten in all of the preparations; monumental altars dedicated to Aslla piscu and Wiraqocha Rasca were also assembled, placed on either side of their personal chambers as if to serve as sentries. Indeed, the entire hall within which they were likely to spend most of their time seemed to be at least partially tributary to the hummingbird and condor Jibakushin; the colors orange and violet were repeated constantly in the flames of the torches that lit the hallways, and feathers were a significant motif in the decorations.

In any event, however, the construction of the personal rooms and memorial chambers had taken much out of the already fatigued Dark Signers, and at this point they were both more-than-ready to turn in for the night. It was to the Dark King's immense frustration, therefore, when he received a mental message from one of the hundred or so wraiths he had kept around as servants; while the ghouls could not speak, their minds were little more than psychic extensions of his own, and what one of them was currently intimating to him was that the couple had visitors.

"Argh…follow me to the throne room, will you?" he asked Carly as he rubbed his temples. "I have a feeling that this might take a little while."

[-]

"How can you help?" Jean repeated. "Well, what are you good at? You said you play Duel Monsters casually…are you any good?"

Leo scratched his head again and nervously sputtered, "Well, I don't know if 'good' is the right word to cover it…but I'm not really 'bad' either…but of course it depends since there are so many coin flips in my deck, so the answer today might be different from the one tomorrow or the next day…so I guess, err, if you wanted to rank me on a scale of one-to-ten, I would go with…oh God, let's see…four, maybe? Umm…well, four-_ish_ anyway."

The other occupants of _Always_ stared back at him blankly, clearly off-put by his rambling tirade. Leo could do nothing but continue to scratch against his blond curls and shift softly on the heels of his feet before Breo finally decided to break the silence by muttering, "Alright…I guess we'll just mark you down as a 'maybe' on that one, then."

"So what do you do, anyway?" Jin Himuro inquired. "For a living, I mean."

Leo's face lit up at the prospect of being able to discuss his favorite subject. "I've been spending the past three years traveling the world and learning everything there is to know about timepiece repair. If you need a clock fixed, I'm your guy!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"A mechanic, eh?" Andore said interestedly. "Are your skills solely limited to clocks, or can you work on other things as well?"

"Well, I had to learn a whole lot of mechanical theory and such in order to be able to work on _any_ timepiece that I might come across," Leo explained with an uncharacteristically thoughtful expression. "I've worked on everything from pea-sized finger watches to enormous clock towers, so I've got a pretty wide range of experience. I'd say, if it's got gears or motors or any other devices you might conceivably find in a clock of some sort, I can at least give it a shot."

"Hmmm…" Jean hummed, apparently mulling over something. Finally, the Team Unicorn leader asked, "What, if anything, do you know about duel disks and the Duel Network?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Leo replied, and the team members' collective attention instantly focused intently on his words. Apparently, he had given the answer they had been hoping for. "I mean, ever since the Generation 4.2 Duel Disks started including a digital clock as one of the additional features, the devices naturally became one of the subjects of my training. I spent at least three months learning absolutely everything about them."

"And the Duel Network?" Jean encouraged.

"Part of my duel disk training, naturally," Leo stated nonchalantly. "The Duel Network is a worldwide wireless system meant to permit auditory communication between connected duel disks, chiefly used for duels in which the opponents are physically separated in some way that prevents them from speaking normally to each other, but also in a pinch as an emergency alternative to a telephone."

"Wow," Himuro swallowed, blinking his eyes rapidly. "You guys didn't just stumble across a mechanical genius…you found a mechanical _savant_."

"Perhaps," Jean equivocated, though he was smiling. "Here's the reason we're asking: if I gave you a message, would it be possible for you to transfer it through our systems to every registered duel disk in the city…but without Jack Atlas finding out over at that palace of his?"

"I might," Leo answered uncertainly. "That's a pretty damn tall order. But why would you need to do that?"

"Oi, isn't it fucking obvious already?" Andore shouted. "We're starting a revolution here, and we need to send out a rousing call to arms!"

"The attacks have severed virtually all traditional lines of communication," Breo elaborated. "The Duel Network might be our only chance to get the message out that there's a safe house for refugees and freedom fighters alike hidden right in the heart of the city. Otherwise it's just us six against Jack and everything he has at his command, and I'm afraid I'm not particularly fond of those odds."

"In that case, I'll give this job my all!" Leo declared wholeheartedly. "But if I'm gonna be working this through your systems, I'll need someone who understands it to assist me…"

Breo cleared his throat and offered, "I'll help you, then. I programmed this entire complex myself, years ago." Leo breathed a sigh of relief at this; he was clearly getting along better with his fellow blond than with anyone else in this room.

"Sounds good," Jean chimed back in. "And while you guys get on that, I'm going to try to establish radio contact with some of the other pro dueling teams. I'm sure that, at the very least, Dragan and his crew will want a piece of this action."

"Got a task for _me_, or should I just take care of things myself per usual?" Andore asked with a smirk.

"_You_ can take Jin and Yanagi and make this place fit for long-term habitation," Jean ordered pointedly. "_Always_ hasn't been used for more than a day or two at a time in quite a while. If we're going to be calling this home sweet home, especially if we're inviting anyone and everyone in the city to play permanent houseguest, then it's gonna need some _major_ clean-up detail. And – congratulations! – you get first shift. So get on it."

Andore mock-grumbled as he gestured for Himuro to follow him and help "collect" Yanagi. As it turned out, the unsupervised old man was currently standing on tip-toes to reach for what appeared to be an antique unicorn figurine on a high shelf, and the blue-haired man grabbed Yanagi by the scruff of his collar in order to prevent him from breaking his back. Dragging the struggling elder behind him, Himuro and Andore exited the room, and a moment later the unmistakable sounds of moving furniture and furious vacuuming could be heard by all.

For the next several hours, Jean, Leo, and Breo set at their appointed tasks with single-minded fervor. Achieving something even remotely resembling Team Unicorn's desired result was _not_ going to be easy; the Duel Network was a finicky system and in any event Leo's training was only peripherally related to computers. Fortunately, Breo was a hardworking and all-around-pleasant partner, and his surprisingly vast programming knowledge helped to bridge the significant gaps in Leo's own. With Breo's assistance he was eventually able to make a considerable breakthrough with electrostatic amplification of the communication signal, and from then on Leo Laruto was entirely engrossed in the project he had been given. When it came right down to it, all machinery was essentially clockwork at its core…and clockwork was precisely what his mind had been drilled for years to process.

So thoroughly focused on the task at hand was Leo that it took several moments for him to realize that Jean had completed his calls and wandered over to their station to check up on their progress. Indeed, he was apparently now explaining his own luck (or lack thereof) in contacting other top Pro Leagues teams, though Leo had not been listening well enough to gather much more than that. He tuned back into the brunette's monologue just in time to hear, "…but I did at least manage to get through to Team Ragnarok in Norway, somehow. Dragan said that they had a feeling that something like this might be happening, though he wouldn't explain how, and that they would be chartering a private plane to Japan as soon as possible. Now, how's it going over here?"

Breo had to prod Leo a couple of times before he came back into himself enough to answer, "Pretty well, all things considered. I've isolated the best possible frequency for the signal wave to be broadcast at, as well as a method that will allow it to reach the maximum number of duel disks in Neo Domino…but not Jack's."

"And what would that be?" Jean asked curiously.

Leo smiled slightly in recognition of his own cleverness as he elucidated, "I've widened the scope of the wave to encompass the entire city, but I essentially 'tricked' the system into using a different location as the epicenter by piggybacking on the signal of a collapsed radio station a fair distance from here. It's currently broadcasting nothing but static, but by using it to carry our own signal we can make sure that the entirety of the Satellite stays out of range. I'm currently running simulations, and it looks like the edge of the wave's maximum reach cuts out right over the bay with this plan in effect. The only trade-off seems to be that quite a few of the neighboring townships and farmlands are now in range of the repositioned signal, but I suppose that shouldn't be all that big of a deal. Not a whole lot of duel disks out there, right?"

"Right," Jean agreed. "So how much longer until we can send out the message?"

"Actually, if it's ready…" Leo mused, pausing for a moment to contemplate the manner, "Yeah, you should be able to send it now. I can bring you live whenever you need me to."

Jean raised an eyebrow at the nigh-frightening efficiency of his new ally but recovered quickly, chuckling softly as he declared, "Alright then! Get this thing ready!"

Leo toggled several switches and pressed a button on the Team Unicorn duel disk attached by cord to the console, announcing to Jean as he did, "And you're live in 3…2…1…"

[-]

Hideo Izayoi couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The Senator would admit freely that he hadn't made the best decisions when it came to the duel disk that now stood prominently on a pedestal before him, but that was no reason for the idle machine to suddenly burst into life as if possessed, blaring a deep male voice that Hideo didn't recognize in the slightest.

Of course, this _particular_ duel disk had quite a bit of history behind it, and if there was any such device in the world that Hideo would expect to be suddenly overtaken by supernatural forces at a time like this, it would be this one. This was the duel disk he himself had worn on that fateful day when he engaged his own daughter in a casual duel that had gone abysmally wrong. One last attempt to shirk his responsibilities as a parent for his responsibilities as a Senator had finally broken Aki's resolve, and in an explosive display her psychic powers had manifested for the first time and punished him for his selfishness. And then, without thinking, he had uttered the unforgivable word, deeply scarring his poor daughter for years to come…

_Monster_…

This duel disk had gone into permanent storage at that point, while Aki had kept hers as he and Setsuko sent her off to Duel Academia. Hideo had thought the idea reasonable at the time – surely, being surrounded by cards all of the time would force her to learn to control her influence over the monsters they pictured – but instead he had simply made her more of an outcast, one who lashed out at the slightest provocation and enjoyed watching others flee in terror and misery.

And all that time, as Aki ran away, found that sick bastard Divine, and joined up with his megalomaniacal cult, Hideo kept this duel disk far away from him, hoping that by avoiding the symbol of his greatest mistake he could avoid the consequences as well. But when those consequences concerned the fate of a living, breathing teenage girl, it was inevitable that karma would eventually come to call. And soon enough it did, when Aki had been caught up in the collapse of the Arcadia Movement and ended up in a coma, with no signs that she might ever recover.

But then, on the advice of her new allies, he had sought out Yusei Fudo. Yusei…now _there_ was a man with all the qualities Hideo lacked – compassion, strength of character, and a steadfast dedication to always doing right by his friends. Even with nothing to gain, and a clear psychological weight of his own pressing down upon his shoulders, Yusei had put his own feelings to the side to revive Aki and then to try and reason with her through the sweat and tears of combat. Time and time again in that spectacular duel Yusei had allowed himself to take the brunt of Aki's psychic fury, simply to protect everyone else in that room, and yet remained standing tall and proud in time for the next assault. Finally Hideo had been unable to stand by and watch the boy sacrifice himself yet again, and so he had taken a flurry of scorching wind and biting thorns himself, hoping that through this display Aki might realize that he was ready for a second chance, if only she was willing to offer it.

And then…somehow, he had gotten through to her. In a burst of passionate emotion, Aki had finally reigned in control of her powers and arrested the movement of the object that would otherwise have killed him, and after a dazzling finish at Yusei's hands Aki had reconciled with them, tearful apologies flying freely as he attempted to atone for over a decade of horrid decisions with a single embrace. It wasn't much – it _certainly_ wasn't enough – but when Aki had requested the chance to redeem her own sins by assisting Yusei's group in saving the world, Hideo had talked over his wife's objections and permitted her to chart her own course.

It was on that day that Hideo had fished this duel disk out of storage and placed it proudly in the center of his manor's atrium, letting it stand as a potent reminder that someday, Aki would return from her adventures, and they would finally be a family again. But in the many weeks since that incident, Hideo had certainly never seen the device _do_ anything…much less boot up by itself and speak to him!

Against his better judgment Hideo approached the duel disk and listened into the speech it was broadcasting, and his eyes widened as he considered the implications of what he was hearing. The message was fairly short and was constantly repeating, so Hideo ran to grab Setsuko and have her hear the next broadcast of the pronouncement.

"Hideo, what…?" she began, but Hideo merely placed his finger to his mouth to cut her off and brought her to the duel disk, which was beginning to speak once more.

"_This message goes out to all men, women, and children that have been displaced by the crisis that has wracked this city_," the voice declared authoritatively. "_I am Jean, leader of the professional dueling team known as Team Unicorn, and I want you to know that we are preparing to fight back. If you wish to help, or simply to provide shelter for yourself or your families, place cards face-down in every slot of your duel disk, and a holographic map to our safe house will be displayed. Supplies are limited, so bring as many nonperishables or other such items as you can to bolster our stores. Good luck to all of you, and Godspeed._"

As the speech returned to the beginning, Setsuko fidgeted before asking, "So…what do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Hideo responded. On the one hand, the couple had no proof that this message was in any way legitimate, and venturing out of doors for any amount of time was quite a risk at the moment, what with those ghoul-like creatures still patrolling the streets like an undead army corps.

On the other hand, it wasn't like they had too many other options. The attack hours prior had decimated their mansion, and since then they had been huddled together in the half of their home that _hadn't_ completely collapsed. Unfortunately, the kitchen and most of the storerooms had been located in the other half, so it was inevitable that they would eventually need to leave to find food. This could be just the opportunity for them to establish a long-term source of food and shelter…and also a chance, perhaps, to fight against whatever force had caused all of this devastation. Hideo was not, by nature, a confrontational man, but this city had been his home all of his life, and he was prepared to take a stand for it.

His mind now made up, Hideo extracted a random deck from a nearby desk and placed cards in each of the glowing slots. An instant later a shimmering representation of Neo Domino appeared before them, with a glowing white dot labeled with the English word "Always" indicating where they needed to go. "That's our destination," he declared, pointing to the spot. Reading the anxiety in her eyes and surmising the source, he continued, "Aki will be fine, dear. She's a remarkably self-sufficient young woman, and wherever she is right now I'm sure that she's safe. Indeed, for all we know, she might even be _part_ of this resistance movement. And even if she isn't…well, I think that she'd be comforted by the notion that we're fighting too."

Setsuko swallowed a large lump in her throat and nodded. Then, something seemed to occur to her, and she ran off into another room. A few minutes later she returned with a bagful of gold and jewels, and Hideo realized that she had just raided their safe. "Since we don't have any food to pay our price of entry, I'm hoping that these might suffice," she declared confidently. "If these rebels still have a way to sell things outside of the city, then I'm guessing that a hundred million yen should be a decent foundation of start-up capital."

[-]

Finally.

It had taken the King of the Underworld longer than It had initially anticipated to reach Its destination, but there was no mistaking it…this _was_ indeed the nigh-limitless well of spiritual energy that the King had sensed far out to sea. And as Its Guide had given It special permission to eliminate such potential threats, the King had no intention of leaving a single soul on this island alive by the end of the hour.

The King of the Underworld proceeded purposefully toward the towering volcano and tripartite domes that marked the Duel Academia, Its primitive mind fixated solely on the prospect of murder.

[-]

A/N: Doesn't it sometimes seem like these Author's Notes sections should really just be labeled "the part where Masterdramon apologizes?"

In any event, though, I really am sorry about how long it took to release this one. It was an exceedingly tricky one to pull off – Sherry is very difficult to write for, and I had to keep rewriting several of her scenes over and over – and to top it all off this is _by far_ my longest chapter yet. Indeed, there are at least three scenes that were originally supposed to be in this chapter that I'm moving to the next one out of necessity.

And while I'm apologizing, I _am_ sorry for anyone who expected a full-length duel between Yusei and Sherry, but it was always my intent that this bout mirror their first match in the anime. So the two duels are identical up until the last turn, which changed because Yusei obviously wouldn't run _Starlight Road_ without his Signer Dragon. As such, the face-down instead became my original card _Junk Burst_, which I hope was clear.

The main reason for the delay is that I've been fixated on other projects this summer, including writing a one-shot (if you haven't checked out "The Devil and the Star" yet then I suggest that you do, as it is in continuity with this story…as will be my upcoming one-shot, "Second Sun"), beta-ing the massive first chapter of my girlfriend's Kingdom Hearts fanfic, and constructing my version of the much-debated Legend of Zelda timeline (if anyone wants to check that out, it's posted in the Zelda section on the Pojo forums).

But I'm sure you'd all rather hear me compliment you than myself, so let's get those reviewer shout-outs underway!

I received a record-breaking 14 Super Special Awesome reviews for Chapter 9, and so my full gratitude goes out to KaliAnn, Zaconator and Zackis, Jen Kritique, JillRG, Ultimate Warrior of Zera, Chocolate Lightning, Xoroth, Sara Crewe, , Hyrulian Hero Akai, Ox Boy Jr. 53Z, Raydex-of-the-Dawn, Alicia, and of course the Lord and Mistress of All Things Review-Related, orangerebellion. Y'all provide the spark that keeps this creative flame a-burning! ;D

Now, for some specific responses:

**JillRG:** Hmm…I've never made a conscious connection between 5D's and _Les Misérables_ before, but now that you mention it…well, it's certainly an intriguing thread of inquiry. Thanks for the food-for-thought!

**Ultimate Warrior of Zera:** Since I got addicted to TV Tropes for about a week last month, I now know what you're referring to. And I'm flattered that my writing skills could be considered to have crafted such a thing. XD

**Sara Crewe:** Love ya babe…even though Pokémon is _still_ terrible! ;P

**Ox Boy Jr. 53Z:** If you leave me a review, you'll automatically get a mention in the "shout-outs" section of the next chapter (hint, hint people!). As for Bruno/Dark Glass, while I'm rather fond of him as a character (even though I think his monsters are about the most boring ones in the entire anime), I find it unlikely that he'll be showing up in this particular story. I have a fairly specific plan of what role I want him to play in this AU, and at this point that plan involves him not making an appearance until the sequel. Rest assured that he will play a _very_ big role there, however.

**orangerebellion:** The show forgets about _tons_ of characters, LOL. That's why I don't get why such a large number of 5D's fanfic authors seem to feel the need to create OCs…there are so many characters with little or no development that have been introduced and then subsequently forgotten about in this series that when I need to introduce someone new, I just pull someone from that pool and flesh them out. Hell, if I could pull it off with Dr. Schmitt, then I can pull it off with pretty much anyone. ;)

The Dark King and Queen have received an unexpected visitor, one who's prepared to shake up the balance of power on this devastated Earth…though perhaps not in the way that he originally intended. Meanwhile, three tiers of resistance are rapidly gathering in Paris, the Satellite, and the heart of Neo Domino, but with the King of the Underworld making Its way across a world largely unable to stand against Its might, it may already be too late. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 11: _Rebellion_.

– Masterdramon


	11. Rebellion

**My Dark King – Chapter 11: Rebellion**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

Jinbei Tanigawa sighed deeply as he stared off at the smoldering ruin in the distance that was so very recently the gleaming metropolis of Neo Domino City. For a low-class, country rube such as himself, Neo Domino represented the possibility of a genuine utopia…or at least, Jinbei needed to _believe_ that, if only so that he could have something outside of his irrepressibly dreary life to aspire to.

But now that shining beacon of limitless possibilities had been reduced to cinders – by what, Jinbei could not even fathom – and the tiny shreds of hope that Taro's recent acquisition of a broken-down D-Wheel had awakened within their hearts had been crushed into fine powder, never to return. What, after all, was the point in going through all that effort when the Heaven they had dreamed of traveling to all their lives had descended into Hell?

"Err…Jinbei?" rang out the unmistakable voice of Taro Yamashita, cutting across the blue-haired teenager's depressed musings. "I think you'd better come in and take a look at this!"

Irritably Jinbei rose from his position and entered Taro's shed, only to find the brunette listening rapturously to a slightly accented voice being emitted by the duel disk attached to their wreck of a D-Wheel. "…_bring as many nonperishables or other such items as you can to bolster our stores. Good luck to all of you, and Godspeed,_" the voice announced gravely, before looping back to the beginning of the message. Jinbei listened for a moment to this "Jean" as he issued a call for revolution against whatever had devastated Neo Domino, staring at Taro with wide eyes as he did.

"You're not seriously considering…" Jinbei began, but Taro cut across him.

"Of course I am. We were talking about going to the city pretty soon anyway," Taro declared.

"But _look!_" Jinbei shouted, gesturing to the burning carcass of Neo Domino that lay past their window. "The city's dead! It's all gone…there's no point now!"

Taro placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder. "And that precisely _is_ the point," he argued. "Think about how many people must be suffering there. And what are we doing in the meantime, huh? Milking fucking cows and laying fucking fertilizer. We may just be a ragtag team of lanky farm-boys…but that shouldn't prevent us from doing what's right."

"But what can _we_ do?" Jinbei protested, his expression uncertain. "We've got one D-Wheel that looks like it could fall apart at any moment, as well as three of the absolute worst decks in the history of the game. No revolution on Earth could actually want _us_."

"Ya know, Jinbei, you worry too much," Taro answered, chuckling. "Look, I know that we're probably not the _ideal_ freedom fighters, but something tells me that these Team Unicorn guys are gonna need all the help they can get. And you're forgetting the one big advantage that we still have up our sleeves…_Zushin_, the Common Man's God." At this Taro fished the djinn-like monster out of his pocket, holding it up triumphantly as if to say that Duel Monsters' ultimate long-shot would be more than enough to handle whatever the Hell it was that had rent Neo Domino asunder.

Jinbei opened his mouth to utter another objection, but stopped as he stared intently at the creature before him. There was a glint in the massive giant's crimson eyes that the blue-haired youth had never noticed before, one that seemed almost to be…egging them on.

"Alright…fine. I'll go get Yoshizo," Jinbei declared firmly, his mind now set, even though he really couldn't be quite sure how. "Gather up as much food as can be fit into the sidecar, and swap that seat for one that can fit all three of us."

Smiling at his pessimistic friend's abrupt change of heart, Taro pocketed their boss monster and bumped fists with Jinbei to seal the plan, before getting to work on the tasks that he had delegated with intense fervor.

And simultaneously, somewhere deep within the heart of the Duel Monsters Spirit World, the true essence of _Zushin_ smiled with pride. He was far too minor of a God to interfere with this situation directly, as the Akaki Ryu or the Polar Gods could…but He would lend His power nevertheless if these courageous mortals chose to call upon Him. As a spirit, that was both His honor and His duty.

[-]

The palace of the Dark King and Queen was rather untraditional in its structure; rather than being subdivided into strict, linear levels the various wings of the fortress all converged upon a single point, resembling nothing if not a massive spider web. And located at the center of that network was the royal couple's magnificent throne room, an enormous atrium through which the monarchs could greet their subjects as necessary.

Of course, given that the vast majority of their subjects were soulless wraiths, Jack Atlas was understandably confused that someone was now requesting an audience with him…particularly so soon after the instigation of their reign.

In dignified silence the pair proceeded swiftly down a corridor and into the chamber, taking their seats upon ornate thrones and motioning in synchronicity to the undead guards to permit the entry of their visitors. With a massive effort fifty foot-tall black granite doors were parted, allowing three men to hustle cautiously into the foyer. Jack motioned for the men to proceed further so that he might observe them more closely.

What he saw was somewhat remarkable…if only for its utter lack of remarkableness. The person at the forefront of the party was a portly man with enormous ears and a strangely pointed mustache, who was nervously adjusting his atrocious yellowish-green suit in an apparent attempt to make a good impression. At his side were two entirely forgettable guards bedecked in broad black suits and standing as still as possible in support of their boss. Having expected something relating to his earlier missive regarding the Signers – perhaps even Yusei himself, ready to challenge him – the Dark King was rather underwhelmed by this assemblage.

Jack was just about to ask the visitor (who, at the very least, had had the good sense not to speak until spoken to) for his name when Carly interjected. "You are Matsuki Garome, also known as the Dark Money Trader – a low-life loan shark with minor Yakuza connections," she declared venomously, her tone making it clear that she did not consider this to be a very good recommendation. "And what exactly is your business here? We assure you, we are not interested in signing fraudulent documents or purchasing loans with ridiculous interest rates. So we kindly suggest that you vacate our palace immediately, before we conclude that your continued presence on this Earth is decidedly…undeserved."

Garome back up a step, wringing his hands and putting on an unctuous smile as he replied, "First, let me just state that it is an _honor_ to be in your presence, my esteemed Lord and Lady. And while I am certain that you have no need of my monetary services, I do believe that I can still be of significant use to you both."

"How so?" Carly demanded imperiously.

"I have information that I think you will find _very_ interesting, ma'am," Garome stated carefully. When neither monarch responded, the pudgy gangster swallowed hard and continued, "In the course of some…err…undercover work last night, I overheard a rather intriguing conversation at the Public Security Maintenance Bureau. So the moment that that…thing began laying waste to Neo Domino I chartered a ferry over to what appeared to be its source – this illustrious citadel in which I am now infinitely proud to make your acquaintance – in order to offer you a bargain."

"And now we come to the crux of the matter," Jack remarked tiredly. While he had clearly heard far less of this man than Carly had (the Dark King guessed that the rather large disparity between their respective financial situations prior to becoming Dark Signers had a lot to do with it), he was liking him less and less with every word he spoke. "If you wish to strike a deal, then come out with it already. Do not waste our valuable time with meaningless blather."

"Of course sir, of course!" Garome exclaimed, his hands raised in apology. "If it pleases your Lordship, then I shall cut right to the chase. In return for providing you with this vital information, you need only agree to leave myself and my operations alone in this period of…reconstruction. Let it be known that I have absolutely nothing against your most venerated rule – indeed, I welcome it! – but all of this death and destruction is not proving particularly good for my businesses, both over- and under-the-table."

Jack's brow furrowed in contemplation for a moment before proclaiming, "We shall…listen to this supposedly valuable information. If the result sufficiently pleases us, then we shall at least _consider_ bestowing on you the reward that you have requested."

Garome's expression darkened at this rather significant departure from the terms he had stipulated, and as the portly man adopted an enraged scowl and raised his finger in apparent affront, the Dark King could tell that he was now staring at the _real_ Matsuki Garome. "Now see here!" he shouted, his entire sycophantic pretense dropping instantly. "You may be playing at being king here, but no one talks that way to Matsuki Garome! _No one!_" The crime boss gestured wordlessly to the men behind him, who drew and trained their guns on the royal couple with professional precision.

Jack did not appear particularly concerned, however…mostly because he had mentally commanded two of his wraiths to approach the visitors from behind the moment that Garome had mentioned a deal. "Kill the spares," he ordered calmly.

At these words each living corpse grasped the head of one of the bodyguards and wrenched it from their neck with a sickening squelch, their agonizing screams filling the atrium in the moment before their skulls parted ways with their respective spines. In that moment, however, one of the suits managed to fire off a single shot…one which met its mark perfectly, directly in the middle of Carly's forehead.

An animalistic roar erupted from Dark King's throat as his wife collapsed to the ground, even as his quasi-psychic senses were informing him that Aslla piscu was already in the process of healing the wound. But a white-hot rage was rapidly filling every fiber of his being…a rage that, he realized belatedly, had a voice of its own.

_I can sense it, My host. You wish to punish this ridiculous mortal for his slight upon your Dark Queen. And I have no issue with that. But…death is not the only way to inflict punishment on beings such as this._

"What do you mean?" Jack muttered to the ancient condor that pervaded throughout his essence, causing Garome to stare at him in fear and bewilderment. The pudgy loan shark had remained frozen in place following the gunshot, apparently too shocked to do the logical thing and run the Hell away from there.

_You shall see. Now step aside, and let Me work._

Accordingly Jack yielded a greater portion of his mind to Wiraqocha Rasca, and a moment later he was gone completely. The spiritual energy locked within his heart of darkness exploded throughout his deathly cold form; veins and arteries bulged as they filled to the brim with violet plasma, within which the condor Jibakushin's spirit flowed freely, exerting total control over the unliving shell in which it dwelled. This was the first time that the God had ever taken over a host directly, and it took a moment for it to ascertain the precise mental processes necessary to manipulate the Dark King's body. But it did not take _too_ long for Wiraqocha Rasca to do so, and so a moment later a sadistic smile spread across Jack's face as the condor forced apart his eyelids, revealing empty pools of endless, free-flowing darkness.

"Pathetic fool," Wiraqocha Rasca hissed, Jack's voice taking on an eerily echoing quality as the Jibakushin roughly worked his vocal chords. "You have dared to desecrate the flesh of a chosen avatar of the Underworld. The seething fury that courses through My host's veins at this egregious act shall not be abated until due retribution is exacted upon you. But how to do it?" The condor tapped Jack's pointer finger against his chin ponderously, and Garome's mind was already hurtling into overdrive as it imagined just what sorts of excruciating punishments the Dark King had in store for him.

Finally Jack's cruel smirk widened further, and Garome recoiled in horror as Wiraqocha Rasca whispered, "Hold him," an order that the murderous ghouls immediately followed. The possessed Dark Signer then brought his right wing to his palm and plucked a feather from its tip, which he held aloft as he slowly approached the defenseless gangster. The pointed tip of the jet-black plume gleamed in the torchlight as it drew closer and closer to Garome's heavy chest, and he squirmed desperately against the zombies' unyielding grip until, with a single stab directly into his pounding heart, everything became silent.

[-]

It did not take long for Tetsu Ushio to realize that Mikage Sagiri had not followed him back to Zora's apartment. It took even less time for the burly Security Officer to set back out again to search for her, cursing himself all along the way for letting her out of his sights at a time like this. True, he _had_ wanted to achieve the effect of a "dramatic storm-off" after their heated argument regarding Jack, hoping that the emotional abruptness might help to snap some sense into her, but with those weird walking corpses shambling about he now realized that leaving her alone at all had been enormously folly. Praying that she had merely gotten lost on the way back to their safe-house, Ushio began ducking into every dilapidated building and dark alleyway he could locate, searching desperately for some sign of the woman he still loved more than anything in the world.

Mikage, for her part, was struggling violently against the ropes and heavy cloth gag holding her in place several blocks away, terrified and nauseated by the revolting sight that lay around her. While her mysterious abductor had knocked her out immediately after capturing her (she wasn't feeling the aftereffects of any sort of cranial injury, so she found it most likely that her captor had used chloroform or some equivalent), she had awoken to a room that was almost excruciatingly bright, with lamps and overhead lights of every shape and size ensuring that there was not a single patch of darkness within the nondescript chamber.

Unfortunately this gave Mikage an unobstructed view of her company – no less than a dozen corpses of other young women, propped up in chairs surrounding her and grinning with cold, plastered smiles. Each specimen was remarkably well-preserved, their dead skin smooth and completely unblemished…with the exception of their eye sockets, each of which were mutilated beyond all recognition. Staring at the mess of bloody pulp halfway up each cadaver's face made Mikage want to vomit profusely, and the former secretary acknowledged that it was only the minimal amount of actual food she had ingested over the past forty-eight hours that was preventing her retching from producing more than a few mouthfuls of bile.

As the blue-haired woman fought to expel the liquid past the tightly implanted gag, she heard heavy footsteps approaching her position, and though she was unable to turn around she was certain that they must belong to her kidnapper. Listening intently for some clue as to who the sadistic individual might be, she heard a gruff, low male voice address her in slow, erratic tones. "You…from…darkness," he mumbled, reminding her vividly of a homeless, mentally ill invalid whom she had encountered sparingly in her youth. "From darkness…like…others. Darkness…take…everything. So me…take…you…too."

Mikage worked desperately to try and piece together these disjointed ramblings, but her panic reflex rapidly took over as she heard the distinctive sound of a knife being sharpened behind her. Whoever this insane abductor was, he apparently wasn't a huge fan of the dark…and he had somehow become convinced that murdering young women and cutting out their eyes was the best way to combat it. Deranged that worldview might be, but her captor was the one with the knife and she was the one strapped to a chair, so she wasn't exactly in a position to point this out.

Mikage Sagiri's eyes widened with dread as the mysterious man grasped her head with one of his massive hands and brought an enormous butcher's knife directly into her line of sight.

_Ushio-sama!_, she screamed mentally…before hazily wondering, through all of her panic and terror, why she had suddenly jumped to his name instead of Jack's.

[-]

Since the transport that Sherry had arranged back to Japan apparently wouldn't be ready until around sundown, Yusei was spending the day in the Leblanc manor, catching up on the other major task that his father's spirit had set him: learning more about the human life of the most enigmatic Dark Signer, Carly Nagisa.

This was actually not particularly difficult, mainly because her mother (a farmowner in a rural township adjacent to Neo Domino) had apparently taken her reported death as permanent and so had already commissioned an obituary for the young woman, one which was readily available online. Admittedly it had taken several moments for Yusei to figure out how to display Japanese characters on the Leblancs' French computer, but once that small hurdle was cleared Yusei had little trouble finding out everything he needed to know about the unassuming woman who was now well-on-her-way to conquering the world.

_Carly Mayoi Nagisa was born on March 8, 2008_, the article read. _Daughter of farmowners Keisuke and Suzuki Nagisa, Carly was raised on her family's farm and educated in the nearby township of Ayasato. It was while she attended Ayasato High School that Carly first became interested in her life's passion, journalism; by the age of eight she was already well-known for always having a camera handy, and in her freshman year she joined this habit with a natural flair for writing to become a junior reporter for the _Ayasato Gazette_, helping to revitalize the small-town paper from near-cancellation._

_These early successes, however, were tempered by tragedy. Throughout much of Carly's childhood, Keisuke Nagisa was waging a losing battle against leukemia, and it was when the poor girl was only fourteen that the cancer induced him into cardiac arrest and finally claimed his life._

_Carly was, by all accounts, devastated by this loss. Her relationship with her father ran deep, and during the months that followed his death Carly entered a state of severe depression, one which she never fully recovered from during her high school career._

_Following her graduation Carly resolved to move to Neo Domino City, in the hopes that the change of scenery might finally be able to help her move on with her life. This abrupt transition from rural to urban life was taxing on both Carly and on her mother; Suzuki Nagisa, by her own admission, had come to rely on her only daughter's constant presence for support, and as such she disapproved vehemently of Carly's intentions to relocate. But Carly would not be swayed, and in choosing to leave anyway opened up a rift between herself and her mother that she unfortunately would never have the opportunity to repair._

_Carly almost immediately secured a freelance position with the _Neo Domino Bulletin,_ covering street-level duels and the occasional local tournament for the paper's "Sports and Leisure" section. Little else is known about Carly's life in Neo Domino, however; she was a simple, career-minded young woman who disliked the limelight, preferring to report on events from the sidelines rather than actively participating in them._

_Carly would go on to write over a hundred published articles over the next three years, many of which went above-and-beyond the parameters of her assignments. Her breakthrough exposé on a ring of D-Wheel thieves resulted in the outing of their inside man, a Security Officer by the name of Syd Wilkes, in a move that firmly established her career as one of controversy. Carly's last published article was a detailed spread about the participants in the recent Fortune Cup, and is credited as one of the few pieces in existence containing information about the tournament's dark horse champion, Yusei Fudo._

_Just over one month ago a massive fire in Neo Domino's business district leveled five city blocks and resulted in numerous casualties and missing person reports; Carly's name was present on one such list. The Public Security Maintenance Bureau was soon informed by an anonymous tipster who went by the alias "Figurine" that Carly had most likely been investigating the Arcadia Building – which was located at the epicenter of the affected area – at the time of the conflagration._

_As the building was reduced to smoldering ruins by the end of the night, no body was recovered. However, this information proved sufficient for Security to declare Carly legally dead. She was twenty years old at the time of her passing._

_Carly Nagisa leaves behind no kin other than her mother, who wholeheartedly requests that she be contacted should any additional information about her daughter's present state be uncovered. Contact information is listed below._

In addition to Suzuki Nagisa's mailing address and phone number, the article also provided a smiling picture of Carly at what appeared to be her high school graduation. Yusei had to admit that she had been rather beautiful, in her own way; her human form possessed a simple, humble elegance that the Signer leader found refreshing. It was admirable, really, that the girl could appear this optimistic, even with her father's death still weighing so heavily upon her…or was that jovial smile merely a façade, like the one Kiryu had so often worn to hide the monster that life's pain had gestated within him? Yusei stared deeply into the oversized trifocals that masked the young woman's eyes and wondered just what dark secrets lay behind them, while all the while silently cursing the Jibakushin for twisting such tragedies for their own purposes.

As Yusei continued to focus on the picture, a nagging tug of familiarity flared up within the back of his mind. Without a doubt, he had _seen_ this girl at least once while she was alive, though it took him several moments to recall exactly where. But then memories of the first time that he had faced off against the wielder of an Earthbound God's birthmark came flooding back to him, and it clicked.

She had appeared to him right after he had defeated Dick Pitt and banished Rudger's darkness from the street duelist's mind, frantically demanding an interview from the "New King" on the spot. Yusei remembered his first impression of her as being mildly annoying but harmless, and hadn't spared her a second thought since he had fled from the incoming Security personnel and left her to sort things out. And yet his mind was finding it exceedingly difficult to bridge the connection between that unassuming, striped-shirted journalist and the madwoman who had, by Ushio's account, nearly succeeded at killing Ruka and Rua…

"Cute picture. Is that your girlfriend?" came a snide voice from behind him, startling Yusei out of his reverie. The spiky-haired Signer turned around to see Sherry, now adorned with a casual shirt, leather jacket, and jeans, smirking sardonically at him.

"No!" Yusei exclaimed, blushing slightly. Sherry raised an eyebrow, so he elaborated, "This is actually one of the leaders of the forces that have been wreaking havoc on Neo Domino and the Satellite. I've been conducting…err…background research on her."

"Never a bad idea to gather a bit of intelligence on one's enemies," Sherry agreed, nodding sagely. "But seriously…her? She doesn't exactly scream 'Lord and Mistress of All that is Evil' to me."

"That's just because you haven't seen an…updated picture of her," Yusei countered. "Trust me on that one." Deciding that it might be best to change the subject, he added, "So what have you been doing for the last few hours?"

"Precisely what I came here to do in the first place, before _someone_ came over and started mucking around in my family's home," Sherry responded pointedly, her lip curled. "I was visiting the graves of my parents."

Yusei blanched mildly, recalling that this was something of a…sensitive subject with her. "Is that why you were back here in Paris, then?" he asked carefully.

Fortunately, Sherry did not appear to be in an overly antagonistic mood at the moment, as she calmly answered, "Yes, I return here annually in order to honor their memories personally. Other than that, however, I tend to distance myself from France as much as possible – the wounds of the past fester far too odiously here."

"Where do you actually live for most of the year, anyway?" Yusei went on, choosing to take advantage of Sherry's current (relative) cooperativeness.

"I do much travelling, so I am rarely tied down to a particular location for very long," the blonde duelist explained. "But Mizoguchi and I base most of our operations in his hometown of Kyoto."

"You bring up this 'Mizoguchi,' person quite often, but you haven't actually told me who he is yet," Yusei pointed out.

Sherry furrowed her brow and sighed before saying, "Well, since you'll be meeting with him fairly shortly, I suppose it can't hurt to provide you with the basic details." Sherry reached into her pocket and pulled out a wallet, which she flipped open to reveal a photograph of an older, stern-looking Asian gentleman. "Kenji Mizoguchi was my family's butler for many years, as well as my personal guard. On the night that Yliaster's agents came for us, I was spared only because Mizoguchi risked his own life to rescue me and help me flee from those bastards. Ever since then he's treated me like his own daughter, willing to do whatever it takes to assist me in uncovering the truth behind Yliaster and toppling them from their glass thrones."

Yusei nodded in recognition, and Sherry returned the wallet to her pocket, adding, "And on that note, I feel that I should inform you that our ride is here. Mizoguchi managed to transport our helicopter here far faster than I anticipated. So grab your D-Wheel and meet me at the helipad toward the rear of the estate."

Sherry gave a mocking wave and strode out of the room, no doubt to gather her own supplies for the upcoming journey. Yusei meanwhile turned back to the screen and tapped his chin for a moment before printing the picture of the young Carly. It certainly couldn't hurt to have on-hand, at least.

Slipping the smiling photograph into his jacket pocket, Yusei proceeded to the garage where he had last stashed his D-Wheel, his mind spinning from the thousand different ways that this short excursion to France had fucked with his head.

[-]

Andore was going to _kill_ Jean once he got back inside.

Given that refugees from across the city were expected to be converging on _Always_ for the rest of the day, it was only logical that one of their number be stationed outside of the fortress, so as to greet any potential "guests" and judge their worth to the cause. They were, after all, running a resistance movement – not a charity. Anyone who wasn't willing to pull their own weight wasn't getting into their base, and this was something that could only be determined in person.

But of _course_ Jean had proposed to decide exactly who that unlucky soul should be via drawing straws, and of _course_ Andore had picked the shortest one…as he managed to do every single fucking time that Jean suggested this little method of divvying out assignments. The slim redhead was beginning to think that, perhaps, that wasn't so much of a coincidence after all…

In any event, however, that explained why Andore Porthos was currently sitting atop a piece of charred rubble and scanning the streets for signs of life, waiting impatiently for the remaining residents of the city to converge on _Always_ and bolster their ranks. Andore had thankfully already had one major success on that front – less than an hour after the signal has gone out, none other than the famed Senator Hideo Izayoi and his wife had arrived at their fortress, offering to pay their keep in the form of a bulging bag of gold and jewels. While money was largely a useless commodity in this post-Apocalyptic wasteland, Team Unicorn still had a handful of conduits to the outside world, and bartering those treasures with several of their "suppliers" would doubtless allow them to expand their limited resources significantly.

Unfortunately, nearly two hours had passed since the Izayois had arrived on their doorstep, and no other inhabitants of the barren city seemed willing to follow suit. Consequently Andore was growing somewhat antsy; every second he spent outside of their base's walls was a second that he was risking his life, and while he certainly wouldn't have minded this were he actually accomplishing something, the peril we was putting himself in was becoming increasingly unjustifiable as the hours wore on.

Just as the redhead was seriously considering acting on these impulses and returning to the safety of _Always_, however, a singular figure ducked out of a nearby alleyway and cagily made its way to his position. As the person drew closer, two things about it became eminently clear to Andore: one, that the figure was undoubtedly feminine, and two, that she was clearly scared out of her wits.

Finally, when the mysterious woman was within speaking distance, she asked timidly, "I…Is this, um, the…the…oh God, I can't even remember the name anymore…I knew that I should have paid more attention in English classes! The…um…the…"

At least, these were the only words which Andore could definitely hear; she continued speaking for several more moments, her voice growing progressively weaker until it became utterly inaudible. The golden-eyed duelist sighed deeply before offering, "This is _Always_, little miss – the fortress of Team Unicorn. Are you here to join our cause?"

The young girl, who Andore couldn't help but notice was wearing what appeared to be a stereotypical maid's outfit, swallowed and began nodding fiercely. "My name is…err…Stephanie, sir," she stammered. "Stephanie Bloomsdale. I've come here for…for protection. I mean, my apartment has been destroyed, and I can't get in contact with any of my friends, or my family, or my coworkers…so, um, I've really got nowhere else to go…but if you're, err, full or something, then I guess I could, um, move on and find my own shelter, but…well sir, I don't really know where I could find any now, so…umm…"

"Enough," Andore commanded firmly, cutting across her dejected ramblings. First that Leo kid, and now _this_…was this irritating pattern of speaking some epidemic that was spreading across Japan? "Look," he continued, "we've definitely still got the room. Space isn't the issue at all. But we're bringing people in here to start up a resistance movement, and well, no offense, but you're not exactly giving off a 'freedom fighter' vibe. What could you bring to our team if we permitted you to reside in our base?"

To his surprise, the girl immediately straightened up like a board and, of all things, _saluted_ him. "I will do whatever is asked of me, sir!" Stephanie cried, her voice cracking. "I might not be much of a fighter…but I'll have you know that I have been awarded 'Employee of the Month' at Café la Geen forty-seven months in a row and counting!"

If this had been a Japanese anime or some-such, Andore was quite certain that there would be a comically large sweat drop running straight down the side of his face. It was rather difficult not to dismiss this girl simply based on this "accomplishment" alone, and her overall demeanor certainly wasn't helping matters. Then again, they had just incorporated a clock repairman into their forces to admittedly tremendous effect, so perhaps it was premature to judge…

"Alright, first of all, quit it with the saluting. It's freaking me out," Andore told her, and she immediately dropped her arm and relaxed her shoulders. "Now I'm going to assume, based on the fact that you work at a café and from your general attire, that you are a waitress." Stephanie nodded lamely, and the redheaded duelist went on, "Well, I don't think that we really have much of a pressing need for coffee service, but if you can cook decently as well, that might be a different story. I don't think any of us are particularly handy around the stove."

"Well, err…I think that I'm a fairly decent chef, sir," Stephanie answered. "I'm always the one that the manager places in charge of the baking when the regular guy is out sick or something. And plus," she added coyly, her expression suddenly shifting from servile to sly, "I wouldn't underestimate the coffee if I were you, sir. I can brew a mean _Blue-Eyes Mountain_."

Out of seemingly nowhere the brunette waitress produced a thermos, presumably containing the aforementioned blend. Being that he had been standing out in the biting air for hours and hadn't had a decent meal in over a day, Andore did not particularly feel like he was in a position to refuse a warm beverage, so he shrugged and tipped the edge of the thermos into his mouth, slowly taking a sip of the smooth liquid.

Immediately the duelist's eyes shot open, and as soon as his throat was clear he emphatically declared, "You're hired."

[-]

Several minutes passed before Matsuki Garome returned to consciousness, and he was immediately delighted to behold the flawless visage of his Master. After all, Garome's Master was a wonderful man and an unmatched ruler, a literal God-on-Earth whom Garome would gladly lay down his life for at a moment's notice. It unnerved him somewhat, however, to witness the disapproving expression upon his Master's otherworldly face…had he perhaps done something wrong?

"Master, whatever I have done, I beg for your forgiveness," Garome pleaded, prostrating himself fully before his Dark King. "Though I cannot remember what grave error I have committed toward your Excellency, I see the disappointment written all across your magnificent features. Please, tell me how I may rectify it."

"You may rise, Garome," Wiraqocha Rasca decreed, and Garome hastened to do so, his hazily glazed-over eyes never leaving sight of his Master's solidly violet ones. "You were just about to provide Us with some information that you overheard at the Public Security Maintenance Bureau."

Garome could have laughed, if he wasn't so concerned about maintaining his professional decorum around his Master – really, how could he have forgotten something so simple? In any event, however, this was at least a fairly easy mistake to remedy.

"I overheard this during a rather…violent confrontation between Vice-Director Jaeger Dokeshi and a heavily tanned youth with a criminal mark," Garome reported in a flat, efficient monotone. "After some significant prodding, the Vice-Director admitted that a Duel Monsters card that the youth referred to as 'the soul of the Fifth Dragon' had fallen into the hands of a French girl named Sherry Leblanc, who is now on the run. I surmise that the young man has departed to search for her; he seemed inordinately determined."

"Interesting," the condor remarked, Jack's lips curling into a cruel sneer as it did. The Jibakushin-possessed Dark King stared into space for a few moments before admonishing, "You have done well to provide Us with this information, Garome. Your service is greatly appreciated."

The loan shark's empty eyes brimmed with tears of joy as he registered this praise, the feather still lodged within his chest pulsing madly with an ethereal violet glow. "Thank…thank you, Master," he responded reverently. "If there is any other way for me to serve your beneficence, please request it."

The heavily veined face scrunched up ponderously before alighting with the air of an idea. "As a matter of fact, Garome, We have just the task lined up for you," Wiraqocha Rasca stated malevolently. "Come a little closer."

Garome hastened to obey his Master's command, slowly approaching the Dark King with the manner of one beseeching an altar of worship. The Earthbound God then raised Jack's hand and brought it to the jet-black feather puncturing the crime boss' heart, allowing the pure darkness of the Underworld to flow directly into the quill and lend it a small portion of the Jibakushin's own power. This was the culmination of an idea that Wiraqocha Rasca had been formulating at least since It had taken up residence within Jack's form; the mindless zombies worked well for drones, but if and when the Signers got involved the condor's host was going to require some elite forces to stave off their ever-increasing numbers. The God has learned Its lesson thoroughly from the catastrophic, cascading fall of Its fellows earlier that week – sharing power between the Jibakushin was a mistake, and should be kept to an absolute minimum – but that didn't mean that the condor couldn't use a fraction of Its own energy to bring a few extra pawns into the fold.

This pathetic human was the perfect test subject for this process; his will had been so lacking in strength that breaking it had required virtually no effort. One simple Thrall – tethered to Wiraqocha Rasca's host via the wings that the Earthbound God had so graciously given him – and this "Garome" had been bending over backward to grovel at his Master's feet. Now, it was time for the next step.

The pulsing of the feather drew more and more rapid, the royal violet glow expanding in time with the beat until it enveloped the pudgy loan shark completely, new feathers bursting from the original like an erupting geyser until they swallowed his weak form whole. The ebony plumes crossed each other as they settled into a willowy chrysalis, one which unfolded a few moments later into a set of billowing robes. Matsuki Garome could no longer be seen beneath the mass of unearthly cloth, a loose hood now obscuring his features as he rose to meet his Master's gaze.

"You are reborn now, Matsuki Garome!" the condor announced boomingly. A glance to the side informed the Jibakushin that Its host's mate had finally recovered from the hummingbird's ministrations, as she was now unsteadily attempting to regain her footing, but Wiraqocha Rasca paid her little notice; the God was savoring the moment. "Your human identity may be discarded – you have no further use for it. Now you are the Reaper: Our collector of souls!"

Deftly the possessed Dark King plucked out six more feathers from its sharp wingtip and handed them to the being that It had now termed "The Reaper;" the jet-black quills disappeared completely into the folds of the massive cloak as he accepted them. "Take these and seek out beings who contain great darkness within their hearts," the Jibakushin ordered. "Use the feathers to place them under Our Thrall, and return them to Us when you have located six such individuals. Do you understand these terms?"

The Reaper merely nodded, for the power of speech appeared to have left him completely with the transformation. But that same change had brought with it monumental power, and with that power in-hand the Reaper had no intention of disappointing his Master. And so, with a subservient bow the Reaper turned and exited from the chamber, stepping over the bodies of his former henchmen without a second thought. All of his mental processes were focused solely on the mission that his Dark King had prescribed for him, for the Reaper would _not_ be letting him down.

Jack, meanwhile, slumped over as the condor relinquished direct control over his body – Its work here was done, for the moment. Carly, who had been staring numbly at her husband's overtaken form for the past minute or so, acted just quickly enough to catch him before he fell, and with all the energy she had left in her she teleported them both into their bedroom, making sure to prop him up against the pillows before exhaustion claimed her utterly.

[-]

Mikage Sagiri wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved when she realized that her mysterious captor was not yet ready to make his "incisions;" apparently he had a full procedure that required feeling and measuring every inch of her face first, one which, while thoroughly unpleasant, was at least putting off her death by a short time. Rescue was a thoroughly unlikely concept at this point – Mikage herself didn't even know where she was, so how would anyone _else_ be able to find her? – but she had to keep holding onto that hope, considering that hoping was about the only avenue available to her at the moment.

If only she didn't have this gag in her mouth…Mikage had been a psychology major in college, and ironically enough a _modus operandi_ profile of method killers had been the subject of her senior thesis. Perhaps, if she could only reason with her assailant…but no, even if she had access to her voice, she highly doubted that that would be a particularly effective stratagem. This man was clearly mentally disturbed in a way that her education had not prepared her to deal with, as his broken speech pattern amply demonstrated.

So then, if communication was out of the question, what options did that leave her? Her hands, shoulders, and upper shins were secured tightly to the chair, which left only her neck and feet as movable digits…

And then, Mikage saw it. Located a few meters away was a table loaded up with her abductor's precious lamps, and immediately next to it was one of the chairs containing a grinning cadaver. Gambling desperately that the mysterious killer wasn't paying close attention (from what she could hear, he seemed to be sharpening his knife yet again), the blue-haired secretary deftly used her feet to slide her chair a few inches to the right, allowing her to hook an ankle around one of the corpse's chair legs. Then, taking a deep breath, Mikage pulled her foot backward.

The chain reaction went exactly as Mikage has envisioned it. The chair was sent crashing into the table, causing the rotten wood to splinter and the light sources to cascade noisily to the ground. Her captor let out a guttural cry just as the glass in the lamps cracked open and a portion of the room was plunged into darkness.

Immediately the man sprinted forward to examine the shattered illuminators, pulling the shards of glass out of the comparative blackness and cradling them as if they were the corpses of fallen friends. Mikage took this opportunity to examine the man, who, strangely enough, didn't appear to be wearing a mask or any other method of concealing his identity. Still, the gargantuan man – he looked to be at least seven feet – was one who was unfamiliar to the young woman…most likely a Satellite-born, or at least Satellite-raised.

He was old, at least compared to her; she would have guessed him to be in his late fifties or early sixties if asked. But his attire did not correspond to that age at all…in addition to a heavy trench coat and muscle shirt (ironically, both fairly dark in tone), the giant wore a dome-shaped hat and maroon gloves, which were outfitted with thick rings around the wrists, as well as eyeliner in the shape of black tears. And as he turned to face her, rage and anguish etched all over his nightmare-inducing face, she noticed one other possible clue to his identity – a rather conspicuous "P" and "K" represented in English block lettering upon the chest area of his trench coat.

"_You!_" he roared insanely, catching her off-guard. "You…destroy…light! You not…like others! Me…me burn you! _Me burn you!_"

And then, quite abruptly, he stormed out of the room.

[-]

Being the Principal of the original Duel Academia was, to put it simply, not as fun as it sounded on paper.

Asuka Tenjoin thought that she would have gotten used to the stresses of being the head of the largest dueling school in the world by now – she had held the job for over eight years at this point – but evidently she had not. And the fact that she was now having to deal with Professor Saotome's latest budget request (that woman's serial history of catastrophic equipment failure had been a financial headache to the institution ever since she had joined the staff) wasn't helping matters.

"Need some help over there, Tomorrow Girl?" came a voice from the doorway.

Asuka's lip curled in bemusement. "That was Jim's nickname for me, wasn't it?" she remarked. "Sounds a little strange coming from my husband."

"Aw, I'm hurt," said Jun Manjoume in mock affront as he sauntered into the room. "I would be jealous as well, if it weren't for the fact that we hadn't seen him in over twenty years. Haven't seen a lot of the old gang in that long, actually…"

"Are you just here to reminisce?" Asuka asked tiredly. "Because while that's all well and good, I actually do have quite a bit of work to get to here."

"Hence my original offer, dear," Manjoume countered playfully. "Believe it or not, I've actually got quite a mind underneath this gorgeous hair."

"Once it starts graying, I think that you definitely need to stop referring to it as 'gorgeous,' Jun," Asuka jibed. "But…well, if you seriously want to help, then run that stack of requisition forms over to Fubuki." Asuka paused for a moment and placed a finger to her chin. "Where _is_ my brother today, anyway?"

"Oh, you know onii-san," Manjoume declared with a short chuckle. "Since it was so nice out today, our esteemed Vice-Principal decided to demonstrate his surfing prowess to a fairly large crowd of female Obelisks."

"That's Fubuki for you, alright," Asuka responded, sighing deeply. "I would have hoped that he would rein in that sort of behavior once he became a teacher, but…well, in any event, can you just run these papers down to him? I don't have the time or the energy to go down to the beach and try and reason with my brother at the moment."

"Oh, but you look so sexy in your bathing suit," Manjoume quipped, which resulted in his wife flicking a random card at him. Catching the _Etoile Cyber_ in his fingers and twirling it around confidently, the wild-haired duelist added, "Fine, I'll do it…but only if you refer to me properly."

"Oh God, not the chant _again_," Asuka moaned. "Haven't you outgrown that tired old thing yet?" When Manjoume's amused expression made it clear that he had not, the blonde Principal sighed again and deadpanned, "Ichi…"

Manjoume then turned to his right shoulder, where Asuka could only assume that the Ojamas were chiming in with, "jū," hyaku," and "sen." Though she had long since accepted the existence of her husband's several dozen Duel Spirits and allowed them free reign on the island, the fact that he so frequently had conversations with beings she could neither see nor hear still managed to unnerve her from time-to-time. Particularly when the couple was enjoying their…private time; Jun always yelled at the "politely" intruding brothers to scram the moment that he and Asuka retired to their bedroom, but as she had no objective way to confirm that they had complied, unease and irritation at the invisible trio still tended to linger within the back of her mind. In any event, however…

"Manjoume-sanda," she chimed in after a suitable amount of time, certain that the Ojama brothers were joining her. "There, now will you _get to it_?"

"You got it, babe," Manjoume declared with a wink, making Judai's old "Gotcha!" motion with his fingers before setting off. Asuka wondered vaguely if he even consciously realized the source of the gesture, before shrugging and deciding that it didn't really matter.

Like all of her old friends, Asuka greatly missed Judai Yuki, but she couldn't blame him for laying low for the past couple of decades. After all of those oh-so-convenient "accidents" that had taken place within months of each other around nineteen years ago – Misawa, Kenzan, Ryo, Edo, Hayato, even Junko and Momoe – even Asuka had been heavily considering going into hiding, the needs of her students being the only force powerful enough to stay her hand.

Still, it had been at her urging that Jun had given up professional dueling after only a few extraordinarily successful years of practicing it; the inferno that claimed the lives of Ryo, Edo, and four hundred-thousand fans during the Pro Leagues Championship Cup of 2010 had scared her shitless, and she had therefore insisted that he join her on Academia Island in (relative) obscurity from then onward. The deaths of so many of their old friends had come far too frequently and in far too short a space of time to be written off as mere coincidences, and consequently Asuka was constantly on the lookout for signs that might point her to the mysterious presence behind it all.

Far too distracted to return to her menial work, Asuka Tenjoin turned her chair back to the wall-length window that lined the rear of her office and stared pensively at the radiant sun.

Jun Manjoume, meanwhile, was taking a moment to drink in that very same radiance as he proceeded toward the beach. Being the head of Osiris Red might not be the most glamorous job in the world – at least, not compared to his brief taste of glory all those years ago – but it was worth it simply to bask in the wonderfully tropical environment of this island all year-round.

Duel Academia had been his first true home; the first place where he had finally managed to shed the oppressive influence of his brothers and really _live_. Asuka, Judai, the rest of their extended group of friends and comrades-in-arms…they had become Manjoume's true family, and the black-haired duelist knew that he wouldn't be half the man he was today if not for their influence.

"Sanda! Sanda!" cried out a voice from the side, and Jun turned to see the Duel Spirit of Cliff the Trap Remover bounding up the hill toward his master. Manjoume smiled fondly at the bespectacled former thief; though his initial meeting with the Black Scorpion Gang had been rather…unpleasant at best, he had grown to accept them over the years as some of the most useful assets in his small army of Spirit Partners. Plus, all of them but Meanae were respectful enough to refer to him by his self-imposed title, which was always a nice bonus.

"What's up, Cliff?" the former professional duelist asked politely.

"We're not entirely sure, Manjoume-sanda," the spirit answered. "Zaruug thinks that he saw something strange heading toward the island from the westward direction about ten minutes ago, and sent me to warn you. I'm guessing that it's probably nothing, but just to be on the safe side…"

"Say no more," Jun interjected. "Spirit of the Gentle Breeze, would you mind checking this one out for me?"

The ethereal fairy, who had been floating casually in the warm drafts surrounding Academia Island's volcano, bowed her head graciously and flew out over the ocean to observe the situation. A few moments later a sharp tug occurred in the corner of his mind, and a distant, bloodcurdling scream within that same corner informed Manjoume quite assuredly that the Duel Spirit had been utterly obliterated.

Instantly the Osiris head stood rigid, his demeanor changing entirely as his mind focused with razor-sharp intensity on the situation at hand. "Alright, we've got something coming our way with the power to _kill_ Duel Spirits, so we need to act quickly," he declared authoritatively, Cliff's eyes growing wide as he did. "Don Zaruug's old Shadow Charm is hidden at the bottom of a well in the forest; Cliff, gather the rest of the Black Scorpions and you guys…" he addressed the Ojamas over his shoulder, "…show him where it is. Tell Zaruug to use it to give as many of you guys as possible corporeal forms, and then have the ones that can pass as humans evacuate the students and faculty by boat. Give the staff the emergency code 'Chthonia'…they'll understand the severity of the situation from that."

"Y…Yes, Manjoume-sanda!" Cliff exclaimed with a salute, sprinting off in the direction of his leader with the Ojama brothers in-tow. At the same time Jun returned to his mission to locate Fubuki, though with quite a bit more urgency than he had been applying beforehand. Racing at top speed, it took only about two more minutes for Manjoume to reach the beach, where the handsome Vice-Principal was evidently taking a break from the waves to sign autographs for a few of his admirers.

"Shishou!" Jun called out, causing the elder Tenjoin to turn in his direction and wave serenely. Taking a deep breath, the duelist took his former teacher in the art of amour by the shoulder and began leading him away from his feminine company. "Look, I need to talk to you," he said firmly.

"Can't it wait?" Fubuki pleaded dramatically. "I was just about to show these lovely ladies the new technique I just perfected: Duel Surfing!"

"But wouldn't that get the cards…argh, never mind," Manjoume stated aggrievedly. "The point is, I need to talk to you _now_. And as for you girls," he added to the rest of the assemblage, "I would highly suggest getting your asses to the docks. We're evacuating the island immediately."

Predictably, this pronouncement resulted in something of a riot, as the dozens of swimwear-clad students rushed to gather their things and tear off to the island's harbor. Fubuki meanwhile turned to his brother-in-law and inquired seriously, "What's going on here, Manjoume-kun? Why in the world are we evacuating everyone?"

"Something's coming," Jun declared ominously. "I don't know exactly what it is yet, but it was powerful enough to kill one of my Duel Spirits in about three seconds, which is reason enough in my book for getting the Hell out of here while we can."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds bad," Fubuki agreed, leaning in close. "How can I help?"

"Just come with me," Manjoume answered shortly. "I've already set up a plan to get everyone off the island, and the other teachers should be able to carry it out without too much difficulty once they're given the heads-up. As for us, we've gotta get back to Asuka. I'm _not_ leaving her alone for another second. Not while shit like this is going down."

"Alright, let's go," Fubuki responded, and the two professors proceeded to tear off for the Administrative Building as quickly as their feet could carry them. About halfway there, however, the older man broke off and started running in a different direction, calling back, "Wait, I forgot something! I'll catch up!"

"Wait! Shishou! _Shishou!_" Manjoume cried out, but it was no use; Fubuki was an almost world-class sprinter when he needed to be. Stomping the ground and swearing loudly, Jun resumed his trek to his wife's office, not slowing his pace one iota until he burst through the door, panting.

"What's the hurry?" Asuka asked with the hint of a smirk, but her husband merely grabbed her by the wrist and began pulling her out of the room.

"No time to explain, dear…not that there's a whole lot _to_ explain, either," he wheezed. "Someone, or something, with the power to kill Duel Spirits is coming here, so I've given the order to evacuate Duel Academia. We need to get ourselves to the docks, _pronto_."

"Wait, what?" Asuka exclaimed, wrenching her arm out of his hand. "But…what happened with Fubuki, then?"

"Onii-san knows about it…but he ran off because he apparently 'forgot something,'" Manjoume breathed with a shake of the head. "We've just got to assume that he's _at least_ got the mental faculties to realize that we don't have a lot of time on our hands, and hope that he meets us at the harbor before it's too late. But _we_ have got to go!"

"F…Fine," Asuka stammered, grabbing a handful of small objects from her desk and stuffing them into her pocket…including, Jun noted with interest, her old deck. Then, without another word, the couple raced out to the east side of Academia Island.

It was evident upon their arrival that the Black Scorpions had been quite successful in their mission. Large swathes of students and faculty were flooding into the narrow harbor, while a now-physical Don Zaruug (bedecked in his old detective disguise) was organizing them into teams to board the Academia's generous supply of boats. Flashing the gun-toting Duel Spirit a thumbs-up to indicate that he should continue with his current course of action, Manjoume turned his attention to the non-corporeal spirits, of which there were a great many. Floating over the heads of the panicked teenagers like silent guardians, what appeared to be every single Spirit Partner he possessed were assembled along the wharf, gazing expectantly at their master as if awaiting orders. The spiky-haired duelist sought out three particular ones, however.

"Alright you guys, bring me up to speed," Jun demanded of the Ojama Trio.

"Everything went just like you planned it, aniki," Ojama Yellow answered, his demeanor uncharacteristically serious. It appeared that the death of Spirit of the Gentle Breeze had sobered up the normally lighthearted brothers by a fair margin, at least for the time being. "We showed Don Zaruug the place where you hid the Seven Stars' old Shadow Charms, and he used it to turn himself, the other Black Scorpions, Starving Maiden, and Chaos Necromancer solid for the next couple of hours. The Black Scorpion Gang is helping load people on the boats, Maiden is overseeing the gathering of necessary supplies, and Necromancer is already below-deck and holding onto the rest of the Shadow Charms for safekeeping."

"That one was my idea!" Ojama Black piped up. "Figured that we probably shouldn't give whatever's comin' the chance to get their hands on 'em!"

"Pretty impressive…for a gremlin wearing a Speedo," Manjoume acknowledged with a curled lip. "So is everyone here, then?"

"I'm pretty sure so," Ojama Green offered, evidently not wanting to be left out of a rare chance to be truly useful to his aniki. "Once Zaruug spread the message to Saotome-sensei, she raised Hell getting everyone out here. She even sent people into the dorms with _bullhorns_ to spread the evacuation order faster!"

"She can always be counted on for her…bombasticism," Jun commented with a small grin. "Like most of her best tricks, she learned it from Judai. And speaking of…Rei! Kohara! Get your asses over here!"

While the lowly head of Osiris Red was ostensibly ranked below them in the Academia's traditional power structure, Obelisk Blue (females) head Rei Saotome and Ra Yellow head Kohara Brayer both deferred to Manjoume as a general rule, if for no other reason than that he was married to their boss. But beyond that, the former pro-duelist was a natural leader and strategist in times like this, and the attentive way that the other two professors answered his summons was proof that they understood and accepted this.

"What do you need, Manjoume-san?" Kohara asked politely.

"Well, I thought it best that we get the whole administration together here, so we can lead this whole operation more effectively," Jun replied. "Err…right, Asuka-chan?"

"Oh! Um…yeah…" the slender Principal replied, clearly surprised to be consulted despite her position of authority. She was evidently quite distracted by something, stealing glances every few seconds at the opposite horizon, and Manjoume was sure he knew why. Ever since that business with Darkness (_both_ of them), and even moreso after that horrible year where death had come suspiciously frequently to the members of their old gang, Asuka's protective instinct where her brother was concerned had swelled massively. Jun knew that, as with himself, the central reason that Fubuki had remained to teach at his alma mater rather than leave to pursue his teenage dream of pop stardom was to assuage his sister's worries.

"He'll be fine, dear," Manjoume attempted to reassure her. "Fubuki-sama is the most diehard and resourceful man I've ever met…there's a reason why I call him 'shishou.' Besides, it looks like we underestimated that thing's distance from the island; if it was anywhere close to here, we'd have noticed it by now…"

Jun Manjoume was just about to add that this gave Fubuki plenty of time to rush back after completing whatever the fuck he was doing…but the gaping, bloody hole that appeared in the center of Kohara's chest cut off the rest of his speech rather forcefully.

The Ra Yellow head gasped before collapsing to his knees in instantaneous death, and that's when all Hell broke loose. Gazing upward, Manjoume observed to his horror a flock of what appeared to be slime-covered birds, circling murderously over their heads before diving one-by-one at the crowd below and ripping people's hearts directly from their chests.

The loading of the boats, which a moment ago had been proceeding at a fairly steady pace, immediately grew frantic as students pushed past each other to hurtle themselves to comparative safety. Several of the fully packed ships panicked and started their motors, but these avian demons were evidently both intelligent and swift; without delay they began dive-bombing the boat's engines, committing explosive suicide in order to prevent the students and faculty from departing. And worst of all, many of the frightened individuals now hurrying about appeared to be making no effort to avoid the monstrous creatures…indeed, many ended up running directly into the birds' paths, with mortal consequences. It took just a moment for Manjoume to realize that, like Duel Spirits, these beasts could not be easily seen by the naked eye, and just a moment longer to push Asuka and Rei forcefully to the ground, narrowly avoiding decapitation by an approaching swarm.

And as Jun poked his head up, grunting at the abruptness of his own dive, he found himself staring directly at what was clearly the master of these nightmarish entities.

The thing was _enormous_ – at least the height of a skyscraper, if not greater, with the breath of a suspension bridge and a palpable sense of sheer, unbridled _weight_ on-par with a blue whale. Worsening the effect was the fact that the creature was composed of the same grayish ooze that its birdlike servants were, giving it the appearance that it was constantly melting as it slowly trudged its way across Academia Island. Manjoume watched helplessly as the titanic beast began to demolish the Obelisk dormitories, razing the buildings to the ground with a jet of dark fire…but before the behemoth could proceed onward to Ra, however, it was struck ferociously from the side by a massive blue claw.

Jun Manjoume, Asuka Tenjoin, and Rei Saotome all stared with their mouths agape as Divine Flame Emperor Uria, Descending Thunder Emperor Hamon, and Phantom Demon Emperor Raviel began to engage in a colossal battle with the invading creature, utilizing their demonic powers to hold it off from approaching the escaping students and staff any further. And at their feet was none other than Fubuki Tenjoin…holding up the cards that housed their phantasmal spirits in apparent triumph.

But even from this distance, Manjoume could tell that that appearance was deceiving; the Vice-Principal's legs were shaking violently and sweat was visible upon every inch of his flawless skin. Jun recalled with trepidation that the Sangenma materialized into the physical world by absorbing life energy – Kagemaru had managed it by utilizing the Duel Spirits of every card on the island, while Yubel had taken advantage of the ambient power she had absorbed from Professor Cobra's Des-Belts – but Fubuki had no such advantages. He was fueling the Godlike entities solely with the life force of a single mortal…and it wouldn't be much longer before that very limited well would dry up.

Asuka immediately rushed forward to her brother, with Rei close in-tow. Though he was sorely tempted to follow them with figurative guns a-blazing, Manjoume instead forced himself to think logically about the problem, compose an appropriate solution, and implement it without more than a few seconds' delay. "Chaos Necromancer, get out here!" he shouted, and obediently the fiendish puppeteer leaped from his hiding place within one of the stalled boats, an enormous coat drawn around himself to block his less-human parts from view. The coat was bulging, as if something was hidden under it, and _this_ was what Manjoume's strategy was hinging on.

"Zaruug, it's time to dispense with the subterfuge!" Jun further ordered. "Give physical forms to every Spirit here, and take care of these birds!"

"You heard him, gang!" Don Zaruug cried out, his tone equal parts overdramatic and genuinely dangerous. "Black Scorpions, assemble!"

Immediately the band of Duel Spirit thieves threw off their human disguises and got together in formation, while Zaruug's Shadow Charm burned fiercely. A moment later the harbor became populated with dozens and dozens of formerly invisible Spirit Partners, and with an explosive firing of Zaruug's pistols as their signal they had at the avian servants, tearing the filthy birds apart at every turn. Satisfied that the odds had been balanced on this end, he gestured for Chaos Necromancer to follow him and raced to Fubuki himself.

"So this was what you were up to, shishou?" Jun called out as they reached the brunette Vice-Principal's position. Asuka was grasping onto her brother in sheer desperation, feeding him some of her own life energy to sustain the activity of his brain and heart, but evidently anything more taxing than the response of a pained grimace was beyond Fubuki's power at the moment.

Deciding to eschew further verbal communication for the time being, Manjoume began reaching into Chaos Necromancer's coat and sliding the aged Shadow Charms onto Fubuki's body. His own pendant from the period where he had been possessed by Darkness came first, and the older man visibly relaxed when it slipped around his neck. Then came Carmilla's choker, and Taniya's gauntlet, and Abidos' headband, and Titan's mask. By the time that Fubuki received Kagemaru's ring, he no longer appeared to be even remotely exhausted, the shadowy energy of the talismans boosting his own power tremendously.

"T…Thanks, Manjoume-kun," Fubuki said with strained but far more confident smile, and at his silent behest the Sangenma began pushing back more aggressively against the behemoth with which they clashed. Uria burned a great hole in the beast's torso, Hamon tore massive portions of its limbs away with concentrated lightning strikes, and in a magnificent coup-de-grace Raviel charged up its clawed fists with free-flowing darkness and, grasping the creature's beaked head, wrenched it clean in two.

For a moment – just a single moment – Jun Manjoume fell under the delusion that they had emerged victorious, but in the next second the monster was already repairing itself, a seemingly endless supply of Hellish slime oozing up from its core to replace that which was lost. As this small war of attrition continued it became quite clear that in terms of sheer physical strength, the Sangenma together bested this creature by a fair margin, but their enemy was far more durable than they, seemingly able to regenerate from even the most egregious of damage.

After the third straight reconstitution of the beast's damaged cranium, Rei Saotome stepped up from the sidelines and interjected, "Y'know, I _really_ don't think this is working…"

"You've got a point there, Rei-chan," Fubuki replied with a sigh, the Eyes of Wdjat upon his items glowing as he apparently prepared for something big. "Now on my signal, let's all get ready to run back to the harbor."

Manjoume, Asuka, Rei, and Chaos Necromancer all nodded in recognition, hoping to high Heaven that the affably quirky Vice-Principal knew what he was doing, and as the glowing of the Shadow Charms peaked, so too did the Sangenma shine to an almost blinding gold. The monster took a few steps back as the three silhouettes flashed brilliantly and then converged, unleashing the demonic Gods' fused form: the Chaos Phantasm Armityle.

Having been a mindless Duel Zombie at the time that it was first Summoned, Manjoume had never before had much of a chance to admire the incredible figure that was this 10,000-ATK behemoth…and he wouldn't have much of a chance now either, as Fubuki took that opportunity to cry, "Alright, let's go!"

At that command the four professors and single Duel Spirit raced madly back to the docks, and as they ran Jun shouted, "So you went back for the Sangenma, huh? That's both the smartest and the most motherfucking _stupid_ thing that I have ever seen you do, shishou!"

"Well, you know me," Fubuki returned with a humorless chuckle. "Those things have already come close to destroying the world at least twice…I just couldn't stand the thought of some new evil force getting a hold of them. So I retrieved them from the Spirit Gate, intending to destroy them at the first opportunity, but then I saw that creature heading toward you guys and, well…I just couldn't let everyone down by using anything less than my full arsenal to protect them. So I thought, hey, maybe there might be some residual energy within me from when I was a Star Assassin, so I gave it a whirl…"

"…And nearly killed yourself in the process," Asuka chastised, a small catch evident in her throat. "I'm pretty sure that's where the 'most motherfucking _stupid_' part comes in, onii-san."

"Still, it worked…sorta," Fubuki countered. "But thanks for bringing me these old Shadow Charms – I don't think I would have lasted more than a minute or two longer without them."

"What was that last trick you pulled with those artifact things, anyway?" Rei asked, her long blue hair trailing behind her as she struggled to keep up with her longer-legged colleagues. Manjoume silently reminded himself that Rei hadn't been there for all but a day of their first year, so she was unlikely to recollect all that much about the Shadow Charms or the Seven Stars.

"Poured all the remaining juice in the items into Armityle, so that it could remain corporeal without me having to stand there and feed it constantly," Fubuki elucidated. "It should be able to remain separated from the original Sangenma cards for a good hour or so."

Jun chanced a glance back at the clashing titans and noticed with satisfaction that the fused God appeared to be pushing back against the invading monstrosity, keeping up a steady burst of flame from the arm that incorporated Uria's maw in order to barricade the oozing beast from following them. Returning his attention to the scene at the harbor as they rapidly approached it, however, was rather less heartening.

Fresh human casualties appeared to be fairly low, but this came with an extremely visceral cost: corpses of now-physical Duel Spirits strewn the battlefield, having apparently given their lives to protect their partners from harm. The birds, meanwhile, had disappeared from the scene utterly; the distinctive sound of flapping above him alerted Manjoume a moment later to the remains of the swarm fleeing back to their originator in a frenzied gaggle, chased from the rear by a steady string of Zaruug's potent gunfire. Turning his attention back to the carnage with an increasingly heavy heart, Jun noticed that the remaining Black Scorpions had abandoned the battle to surround the limp figure of Gorg, and as Chick moved his head slightly the Osiris head was forced to hold down vomit as he observed the disemboweled abdomen of the amicable strongman.

Letting his still-smoking pistols drop as the avian creatures passed out of his formidable range, Don Zaruug raced over to his aniki and bowed slightly. "Manjoume-sanda, your plan was truly inspired, though the price for its success has been high indeed," the former thief noted sadly, his vision cast downward. "But you should be pleased to know that nearly all of your students have survived this first assault – and I am not naïve enough to presume that there won't be others very shortly – with minimal damage. I have counted thirteen total human casualties: ten students, Kohara-sensei, Takadera-sensei, and Sorano-sensei."

Manjoume felt a massive lump form in his throat. "And what about the Duel Spirits?" he pressed, dreading the answer.

"It would be easier…to name the spirits who _didn't_ perish in this battle," Zaruug answered, his voice ringing hollow. "Only Meanae, Cliff, Chick, the Ojamas, Sacrifice, Soul Tiger, Blood Vors, and myself remain."

"I…I see…" Jun responded, his eyes moist. Surveying the war-torn harbor a second time revealed to him individual fates to many who had escaped mention in Zaruug's litany – Mimic Illusionist, with the mirror that encompassed its face shattered cruelly; Matatabi Cat, its royal blue fur stained liberally with blood; Dark Blade's helmeted head, separated cleanly from the remainder of his ebony-armored body. Turning to the side he observed similar expressions of numb shock on each of his fellow humans, but no reaction was as clearly visceral as Chaos Necromancer's, the puppeteer's mute lips stretched open in a silent cry of agony. Manjoume thought he could understand – the Spirit's own innate abilities increased his powers with the demise of his fellows, and the bountiful strength now pouring into him was doubtlessly serving as a constant reminder of the sheer scope of the casualties.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, sanda…" Don Zaruug added, his own tears brimming at the sight of Chaos Necromancer's noiseless breakdown, "I should…rejoin my gang. We need to say…to say goodbye…"

"Go," the Osiris head solemnly encouraged, and the normally happy-go-lucky thief walked over to his friend's corpse and knelt, Meanae's comforting arm placing itself upon his shoulder. Asuka did the same for her husband a moment later, and the ever-considerate Fubuki took it upon himself to offer the same courtesy to Chaos Necromancer, who was now coming as close as a perpetually masked Duel Spirit could to weeping in sorrow.

As such, it was Rei who first noticed that something was wrong. "Umm, guys? I think you'd all better take a look at this," she interjected, her tone brimming with fear. Simultaneously, all four of the other figures within hearing distance turned their heads, and their eyes widened in unison at what they beheld.

The birdlike creatures, rather than fleeing back to their master as Manjoume had assumed they would, were now diving headfirst into the puddles of sickening ooze that the enormous monster had left behind wherever it took a step. And in turn each of the puddles began to boil and churn disturbingly, culminating in several stranger, much _larger_ constructs rising out of them in a process that could only charitably be described as "nightmare fuel."

While not quite as enormous as their originator, these entities were still absolutely titanic, towering over virtually every still-standing building on the island. Jun counted several vaguely humanoid figures among their numbers, as well as massive lizards, spiders, monkeys, and perhaps most bizarrely of all, whales. Each otherworldly abomination that rose from the depths of the grayish slime was more horrific than the next, their visibly unstable forms bulging and contracting revoltingly as they moved.

The few remaining humans and Duel Spirits were helpless to do much more than stare blankly at these new servants as they rushed to aid their master, leaping onto Chaos Phantasm Armityle's hallowed body with absolutely no air of self-preservation. The amalgamated God struggled to throw off these new threats, but they were replicating at a ridiculously alarming rate and in any event the original monster was taking full advantage of the significant distraction that they represented.

With the oozing beasts restricting the use of its limbs, Armityle was finding it enormously difficult to counterattack against the other creature's constant stream of dark flames and physical battery, resorting to endlessly repeating a lightning-generation technique that seemed to do little more than slow the behemoth slightly. Despite the sheer amount of Shadow Magic that had gone into its realization, the greatest of the Sangenma was showing considerable strain, and Manjoume could tell that at this rate it would not be lasting much longer.

…That was before an obese, chalk-white mutant wearing a Speedo, cape, and miniscule crown slammed directly into the master creature's abdomen, knocking it off-balance and sending it crashing into the side of the volcano.

Silently applauding the Ojama Trio for their resourcefulness in polymerizing themselves while everyone else was focused elsewhere, Jun wasted no time in taking advantage of the unexpected attack. "Load up the boats that still work, now!" he shouted to the remaining students and staff, cursing himself for not giving this order sooner. "As many as can fit to each one, and then move out for North Academy!"

"Yes, sensei!" cried one of the more level-headed third-year students, who immediately got to work guiding the younger students onto the two ships that the birds had not managed to wreck.

Manjoume then turned to his fellow professors and affixed them with a meaningful glare. "You all need to help load up those boats in an orderly manner, and then – and this is key – I want you three to _get on them_," he ordered, his voice kept forcefully steady.

"And leave you to die?" Fubuki asked quietly. "That's what you're planning…isn't it, Manjoume-kun?"

"Let's just say that I'm planning for the eventuality," Jun said solemnly, before offering his wife a slow and sensuous kiss. "The only beings on this island with any hope of combating these creatures are the remaining Duel Spirits, and they need someone to lead them. That's gotta be me. So…don't go trying to stop me, alright?"

Asuka was silent, her eyes desperately avoiding her husband's, before she muttered, "Go on. It's what _he_ would have done, anyway…no doubt about that."

None of the assembled friends required any clarification over who "he" was, and it was in memory of his shining example that no one made further question of Manjoume's quite-possibly suicidal heroics. And so, with a final exchange of nods, Rei and the Tenjoins began assisting in the direction of the students, while Jun headed over to where the few surviving Duel Spirits were gathered, Chaos Necromancer trailing behind him.

"This is it!" Jun declared authoritatively, reminding himself vividly of the time that he had organized virtually the entire Academia in ousting the Obelisk White dorm from the island. "Throughout the years we have all fought side by side, defending this island from any who would encroach upon it. Now some hideous new creature has invaded our home and slaughtered our brothers and sisters by the dozens, and I say that it is high-time that we expel it once and for all! Let us go onward, to our final stand!"

Manjoume's short speech was undoubtedly quite effective, as a great battle cry erupted from the throats of those Duel Spirits blessed with the power of speech, charging forward in a small but formidable mass. Chaos Necromancer in particular was giving off a palpable sense of righteous fury as mystical wires burst from his fingertips and lodged themselves within the corpses of the fallen spirits, readying his most gruesome and terrifyingly desperate technique. A few beats passed before the faint tendrils pulsed with energy and the mutilated bodies rose up like an army of marionettes, prepared to fight once more.

As his Spirit Partners' general in all-but-name, Manjoume helped lead the charge in an all-out assault on the oozing servants, assisting Armityle in throwing them off of its divine form while Ojama King continued to distract the master beast. Don Zaruug laid down a constant battery of covering fire as the other Black Scorpions furiously hacked, slashed, and whipped the creatures from closer range; Gorg's demise had clearly tapped deeply into the thieves' collective rage. Soul Tiger largely defended them from retaliation in these efforts, blocking any counterattacks with its nigh-impregnable flames, whereas Blood Vors dispensed with any and all subtlety and simply decapitated every enemy monster he could reach.

Sacrifice and Chaos Necromancer, however, were certainly the most brutally effective of the bunch – the low-level Ritual Monster was routinely absorbing these strange creatures and turning their own powers against their fellows, a geyser of sickening slime bursting forth from the vacuum-like tissue in its center, while the grief-stricken puppeteer commanded the legions of dead spirits to leap upon their transmogrified killers, forcing them off of Armityle and freeing the fused demon to raze dozens of enemies at a time to the ground.

Soon enough the extra beasts were largely cleared off, prevented from reforming by the sheer brutality of Armityle's most devastating attacks. The original creature was alone once more, and this suited the chaotic God just fine; Manjoume shivered and silently thanked the heavens that the greatest of the Sangenma was now on their side, as he did _not_ envy being on the side of any being that had so thoroughly earned that gaze of divine wrath.

Chaos Phantasm Armityle, backed by all of Jun's remaining Duel Spirits, struck without mercy, taking advantage of Ojama King's antics (and subtle-but-vital ability to restrict the ground on which his opponents could tread) to lay into the titanic monster with everything it had. Mountains of Hellish goop flew from the creature's sickening form, and mindful of what had just occurred Armityle immediately set about incinerating every trace of the slime from the island's surface.

Still, even deprived of its minions the behemoth's regenerative abilities were no-less effective, and soon enough the fused Sangenma found itself in precisely the same situation that its component pieces had – strong enough to best this beast at every turn, but not quite enough to finish it off. And as the war of attrition progressed, casualties began to run higher; a stray bolt of dark fire eradicated Cliff and Chick in a blinding flash, while Soul Tiger received an ignominious claw through the heart as it rushed to protect Blood Vors, falling to Earth with a faint, almost ethereal crash.

Again and again his few remaining Spirit Partners dropped like flies, outclassed to the nth-degree by this terrifying harbinger of death, and it took every ounce of Manjoume's self-control to keep from screaming as they did. Only Armityle stood even the remotest chance of doing more than vaguely distracting the creature, but this stalemate – and the fact that the fused Sangenma was no longer drawing upon any external sources of energy to feed its insatiable hunger – was clearly getting to it. Still, Jun was thoroughly unprepared when the beast managed to stun Armityle with a head butt, followed swiftly afterward by a monumental beam of Hellish energy that tore straight through the phantasmal demon's stomach, leaving a gaping hole behind.

Armityle's fall was a horrifying thing. Both of its mouths screeched in agony as its body began to collapse and fragment, bending inward onto itself as its tail slipped out from under it. Though his history with the Sangenma had been unabashedly sordid prior to this day, there was just something inherently _wrong_ about seeing such a divine figure succumb to a mortal wound.

And as the titanic corpse came crashing to the ground, Jun Manjoume was struck quite forcefully with the revelation that he had been fighting off for the greater part of the past hour – that this battle truly was lost. No matter how bravely and honorably they defended their home, this was a creature whose sole purpose was to destroy, and despite all their best efforts they been powerless to do more than briefly stall its progress. Even a _God_ had ultimately proved unable to stop it.

At these thoughts, Jun chanced a glance back at the docks, and was immensely relieved to see that both boats were beginning to set sail. Impossible their victory might be, but if they could simply stall this beast for a few minutes longer, at least their nigh-inevitable deaths might not be in vain.

But even a few further minutes of survival was swiftly turning out to be a tall order to fill, as with their greatest warrior gone the monster was currently having little trouble obliterating every last lingering shred of resistance. Blood Vors went first, brutally cut down as he leapt at the creature in a blind fury, fully intent on avenging Armityle through the bloodthirsty blade of his axe. But as his bleeding cadaver was tossed aside, his lower body almost completely severed from his upper, the oozing abomination turned its unholy sights to Chaos Necromancer, who was now desperately plunging several of his glowing cords into Armityle's fraying corpse. The puppeteer's other revenants futilely attempted to shield the masked Duel Spirit, but it was no use; the marionette strings tethered him too firmly to his current location, and with the thunderous impact of one of its massive legs the monster crushed the poor spirit into the dust.

Diving out of the way as the once-more inanimate body of Dark Blade was tossed toward him by the collision, Manjoume reserved a moment to take stock of the few forces that remained in his small militia. Don Zaruug and Meanae the Thorn were rapidly backing away from the slowly advancing creature, hands held tightly together as Zaruug's bullets continued to sink ineffectually into the folds of the beast's slime, while Ojama King and Sacrifice were both circling around its beaked head, searching frantically for some small shred of an opening in its defenses. And…that was it. Nearly forty Spirit Partners had, over the course of an hour, been reduced to four – and this nightmarish Death God seemed highly intent on reducing that number even further.

The attack was sudden, but hardly unexpected – while Ojama King was taking great care to maintain a highly erratic flight pattern, Sacrifice was hovering far more predictably, and in a single moment it was quite literally _backhanded_ by the creature, slamming the Ritual Monster into the side of the administrative building and reducing its fleshy shell to a bloody pulp. But worse yet, Ojama King was caught by the decaying claw as it recoiled back, sent flying by the glancing blow…though the Fusion Monster, mercifully, avoided complete annihilation. Still, upon impact with the ground the ivory beast shattered into his composite forms, and Jun ran to catch the injured Ojama Trio as they bounced away ungracefully.

"A…Aniki…" Ojama Yellow choked out weakly as the Osiris head held his first Spirit Partners tightly to his chest, in a relatively rare display of abject affection.

"We're…sorry…we couldn't…do more," Ojama Black added feebly; the Green brother merely nodded, as the monster's strike had resulted in his mouth getting partially smashed in.

"Shhh…aibou…" Manjoume crooned, utilizing that rarest of admonishments for the tiny spirits that had more-or-less single-handedly ensured the escape of every living student on the island. "You did plenty. Now's the time to rest."

Zaruug and Meanae, who had come up to join their master just outside of the creature's main path, nodded plaintively, and the former Star Assassin's Shadow Charm glowed as it restored the Ojamas to their original incorporeal state – at the very least, robbing them of their mortal injuries. Still, the mutant brothers were definitely out of this battle for good.

With just himself and the Black Scorpion leaders left, Jun Manjoume began to adjust his mental stratagems to include retreat. But another quick peek to the opposite horizon scrapped that plan almost immediately; the boats loaded with his students were still quite visible on the brim of the remarkably calm ocean, which meant only one thing.

"Yo, ugly!" he shouted, running out to a point where he was sure that the monster could see him and waving his arms wildly. "Had enough fun pussying around with spirits, or are you ready to go one-on-one with Manjoume-sanda?"

While he was nowhere near a match for this thing, stalling for time was all that mattered right now, and it had amply demonstrated a severe lack of attention span throughout the course of its assault. And sure enough, the creature took only a moment to alter its course toward the Osiris head, trudging blindly forward with the clear intention of murdering this persistently surviving nuisance.

Jun, for his part, was now hastily sprinting in another direction – his preference would be to get the titanic monster to follow him, if only so that he might divert its primal mind from the ships now in the distance. Don Zaruug was helping by laying a constant stream of gunfire into the creature's oozing carapace from an entirely different angle; the bullets were, of course, having no effect, but at the very least they were giving the beast pause as to which target it should pursue.

To Manjoume's horror, however, the monster emerged from a mere second of indecision by turning back toward Zaruug and Meanae…evidently, the fact that they had weapons _at all_, even ones that posed absolutely no threat to it, was enough to move them higher up on the creature's "things to kill" list. Jun shouted himself hoarse trying to goad the abomination into returning its gaze to him, but it was no use; the last two remaining Black Scorpions, apparently sensing that they were at far too close-range to escape the beast's wrath, pulled together for a deep, tender kiss as the monster's Hellish fire incinerated them utterly.

Zaruug's Shadow Charm flew from the point where the couple was struck down, evidently having been thrown by the former Star Assassin at the last moment, and Manjoume dived to catch it. Unfortunately, this appeared to re-alert the creature to the black-coated professor's presence, and laboriously it turned back to the last man standing, a bestial sense of excitement alight within its empty oculars at the prospect of finally completing its massacre of the island.

Jun, for his part, stood resolute in the face of the monster, his hands shaking and his face sweating profusely but his composure nonetheless remaining fairly even in emulation of the final pair of his Spirit Partners to fall. "Get out of here, guys," he muttered to the browbeaten spirits still hovering weakly around his shoulders, but the Ojama brothers shook their heads simultaneously.

"We're not…abandoning you…aniki…" Ojama Yellow squeaked. "If you're gonna…sacrifice yourself…to make sure…those kids…get out safe…"

"Then we're…with you," Ojama Black finished gravely.

And so, it was with a heavy heart – and tightly shut eyes – that Jun Manjoume stood his ground against this gargantuan agent of death, readying himself for the blast of Hellfire that would signal the end of his life.

But that blast never came.

Instead, when Manjoume opened his eyes, he was surrounded by an incomprehensible blackness…one which stretched on for miles and miles in every direction. The Osiris head knew that he should be frightened by this sudden turn of events, and yet the darkness seemed almost…calming. Warm to the touch. _Familiar_.

Several hands reached out to Jun Manjoume and the Ojama Trio from the deepest portions of the void, and without conscious thought he grasped onto them tightly, letting himself be pulled into the abyss and away from an increasingly perplexed creature; one which had suddenly found itself utterly without victims for the first time since its arrival to Academia Island.

[-]

Dawn greeted the residents of Zora Laruto's apartment with a tender glow that seemed almost alien amidst the chaos and destruction that now plagued the Satellite, and as its soft rays began to rouse several of them from their slumber they reacted in a multitude of differing ways.

Ruka, for her part, woke to find herself crying her eyes out. And, perhaps most strangely of all, she had absolutely no idea why.

Rua, who was curled up next to his sister, was stirred awake by her soft sobs, and rubbing his own eyes he asked concernedly, "What's wrong, sis?"

Ruka pondered upon this question for a while. She had never been particularly skilled at recalling the events of her dreams, but as she concentrated deeply she thought she could hear the distant echoes of dozens of screams, crying out in desperate agony. "I…It's nothing, Rua," she muttered evasively, now deeply disconcerted. He arched an eyebrow and stared at her hard, however, so after a few beats she finally sighed and gave in. "It's the spirits. I think…I think that I heard a big group of them somewhere far away…_dying_…"

The female twin's voice rang hollow at this concept; clearly, the very idea that a Duel Spirit _could_ die, much less so many at once, was scaring her breathless. Rua's kneejerk response – a vaguely humorous quip about how his sister had "sensed a disturbance in the Force" – disintegrated from upon his lips, and instead he gave her a short hug and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Go back to bed, Ruka," he encouraged. "There's no use dwelling on this…it could all just be a dream after all, right?

"It wasn't a dream," Ruka insisted sadly. "When I close my eyes and focus, I can start to see shades of their faces – broken, mutilated, _dead _faces. It's…it's not right! _They're_ not right!"

Ruka positively screamed these last two lines, quite beside herself in distress, and her brother became quite thankful that the sliding door adorning their makeshift bedroom was tightly shut. As it was, Rua offered his embrace once more, this time without letting go. "Tell me about what you see," he told her calmly. "I may not be able to sense spirits like you can, but I can at least share some of your burden."

It did not even once occur to Ruka to disobey this request; the mental anguish flooding into her core from the souls of the thirty-plus deceased Duel Spirits was rapidly breaking her resolve, and so though it was fairly rare for her she allowed herself to melt into her twin's calming hold. "It's…hard to describe," she choked out. "It's like…like I'm being forced to watch a car wreck in slow motion, over and over again…and not just seeing the damage, but _feeling_ it too. And it _hurts_…"

"How are you even sensing all this so clearly, though?" Rua couldn't help but ask. "I mean, didn't you just say that these spirits were dying 'somewhere far away'?"

"These…weren't natural deaths, Rua," Ruka stated solemnly, her lip clenched in sorrow. "Wherever they were, I can tell that those Duel Spirits were _killed_ – unnaturally, untimely, and inhumanly. And as is expected for any being when death is imminent, they cried out desperately to all that could hear them…I guess I'm just unusually good at picking up their signals."

"Do you, err, have any idea who the killer might be?" Rua pressed, somewhat awkwardly.

Ruka concentrated harder on the hazy, horrific images now constantly swimming in her mind's eye; somehow, talking the matter over with her brother in this structured manner was making it at least somewhat easier to deal with. "I think that I see an…outline, at least," she murmured. "Its shadow is enormous, and the spirits are all regarding it with singular fear, so I'm pretty sure that it's the thing that murdered them. But _what_…?"

Suddenly, a flash of spiritual insight struck the young Signer's subconscious, and instantly the foreboding silhouette was illuminated in all of its Hellish glory, as if dramatically revealed by an ominous bolt of lightning. "It was that thing that tried to attack us earlier!" Ruka realized aloud, her mouth agape. "The King of the Underworld…"

"Aaah!" Rua yelped, his eyelids shooting fully open in fear. "So you mean to tell me that after taking apart the Satellite _and_ Neo Domino City for good measure, that monster started going off on a Duel Spirit killing spree?"

"Well, I don't exactly think that the spirits were part of the King's original objective," Ruka surmised. "I can sense a huge buildup of mystical energies around the place where this happened – this massacre definitely occurred at a locus of spiritual power. I'm guessing that the King of the Underworld is probably drawn to them…it appears to share several properties with Duel Spirits, in any event, which naturally flock to such spots."

Rua regarded her with a blank look at this, so she clarified, "A locus of spiritual energy is a place where the spirits can cross freely between their world and ours. The Black Hills in America, Stonehenge in England, Uluru in Australia, Mangalagiri in India…all of them are loci where the denizens of the Spirit World have gathered throughout history, usually resulting in tales and fables of magic and mysticism being passed down about them. Wherever this King just attacked, I'm certain that it was one of these sorts of spots."

"If this creature's drawn to places where there's a whole lot of spiritual power, then couldn't we, err, track it like that? Maybe?" Rua suggested tentatively.

"You know, that's not a bad idea, Rua," Ruka responded, wiping her eyes with her sleeve to rid her face of the lingering traces of tears. "It would certainly help to know where the King of the Underworld is heading, and I probably _could_ pin it down if that is really its targeting pattern."

Ruka closed her eyes and placed one hand across her mark, which began to radiate crimson light. "I'm going to leave my body for the moment…try and track this thing down and see what its agenda is. But it's going to be _really_ dangerous, so if I start to thrash around or something, bring my soul back here _immediately_. Pinch me, douse me with cold water, whatever…just give me a big shock if the situation gets too hazardous."

"You got it, sis. I'm here for you," Rua assured her, not letting go of her tiny form as it went slightly limp and her eyes glazed over, no longer inhabited by the essence of her soul.

[-]

While the directions that Sherry had provided him were rather quite vague, Yusei Fudo had no issue locating the Leblanc family helipad, as the vehicle atop it was rather quite large and making rather quite a bit of noise. Sherry was already there, loading her steed-like D-Wheel into a large rear compartment with the help of the Japanese gentleman whom Yusei had just witnessed within a photograph. As the engine in the helicopter began to die down, however, the sound of Yusei's motorcycle became far more noticeable, and both figures turned to regard him.

Hastily, Yusei dismounted and pulled off his helmet, offering his gloved hand to the broad-shouldered butler as he did. His thick eyebrows rose up slowly as he apparently appraised the younger man, before accepting the gesture and saying in calm, measured tones, "You must be Yusei Fudo, the man who came out of nowhere to win the Fortune Cup a few months ago. My name is Kenji Mizoguchi, and I am pleased to finally meet you."

"You had heard of him already?" Sherry reacted with surprise. "I thought that his name perhaps rung a bell, but…"

"You would do well to better remember the names of tournament champions, my lady…even ones who triumph outside of your sphere of purview," Mizoguchi advised. "After all, any of them could turn out to be a potential opponent someday…or a potential ally, as is the case here."

"There is truth in that, I suppose," Sherry admitted as she finished rolling her D-Wheel into the helicopter's trunk. "But in any event, I suppose that it's time for us to depart. We can exchange more pleasantries on the way to Neo Domino."

"Impatience is not a becoming trait for you, my lady," Mizoguchi stated pointedly, but he helped load Yusei's D-Wheel into the helicopter and then entered the pilot seat all the same. Yusei followed Sherry silently into the passenger area and strapped himself in, watching with interest as Mizoguchi expertly executed take-off with all the composure of a military pilot. There was evidently quite a bit more to this "butler" than met the eye, and Yusei resolved to find out what.

Before Yusei could ask any of the burgeoning questions within his mind, however, Mizoguchi beat him to the punch. "Tell me about our mission here, Yusei," he requested calmly. "I wish to feel prepared for whatever lies ahead."

Acknowledging that this was certainly a fair question – that Sherry had quite fervently volunteered them for it didn't change the fact that Yusei was bringing two non-Signers into a position of very serious danger – so he sighed low and began to explain. "Am I to assume that you have the same basic understanding of the Signer and Dark Signer situation as Sherry?" he began.

"Given that I was the one that explained the history to her in the first place, I should think so," Mizoguchi returned.

Filing that information away as the solution to at least one of his mental mysteries (and the fresh opening of another), Yusei went on, "I am the leader of the current generation of Signers, based in Neo Domino City. My counterparts were – at least in the beginning – a scientist named Rudger Goodwin, my best friend Jack Atlas, a young woman named Aki Izayoi, and a little girl named Ruka. However…well, Yliaster mucked up that situation pretty quickly."

Predictably, the mention of her nemesis caused Sherry's attention to perk up sharply. "Explain that comment," she ordered sternly. "The account you provided for me in the manor lacked…details."

"Alright," Yusei said stoically; repeating this story was beginning to take a bit of the emotional edge off of it, but the bite of what had happened to Jack still remained. "Now, while I don't know too much about the exact circumstances, I do know that a high-ranking agent of Yliaster appeared to Rudger Goodwin when he traveled to the Nazca Lines in the course of his research. This agent – whom a reliable source has indicated to me to be the true leader of the organization – manipulated Rudger into reversing the polarity of the original Momentum reactor, thus causing it to release energy uncontrollably and set off the cataclysm that was Zero Reverse."

"We've gathered at least that much…that Yliaster were the ones pulling the strings behind the disaster," Sherry noted. "But what, precisely, does this have to do with you and the other Signers?"

"The negative energy from Zero Reverse transformed Rudger from the destined leader of the Signers into the first Dark Signer of our generation," Yusei elucidated. "Indeed, I am to understand that prior to overloading the reactor, Rudger amputated the arm on which his sign rested, freeing the spider Jibakushin to take up residence within his soul once the Momentum released it. That arm would later fall into the possession of Rudger's younger brother Rex, who was instructed to use it to gather the Signers."

"I have heard much of this Rex Goodwin," Mizoguchi commented distastefully. "And none of it good. Am I to understand that he perpetuated genocide in Peru in the course of an experiment? That was what that muscular man you dueled at the Fortune Cup indicated to the crowd."

"That man – Bommer – was at least…partially mistaken," Yusei clarified. "It was actually the Dark Signers who destroyed his village, in order to gather souls to power their Gods. Clearly they purposefully left some sort of evidence that implicated Goodwin in the tragedy, since as far as Rudger knew his brother was gathering and aiding the Signers, and having a vengeful assassin after his blood could prove useful."

"What do you mean by 'as far as he knew'?" Sherry inquired shrewdly.

"Goodwin wasn't particularly satisfied with his brother's version of how events would play out," Yusei answered, trying to sound as natural as possible, instead of as if he was merely reciting the words of his father's spirit. "Instead, he played both sides of the Signer/Dark Signer War, in an attempt to gather the energies of both light and darkness within himself and reign as a literal God-on-Earth. Though the obliteration of Bommer's village was not his fault, Rex Goodwin _was_ responsible for hundreds of other atrocities in pursuit of that goal."

"I noticed the use of past tense there, monsieur," Sherry stated pointedly. Yusei made a mental note of her clear verbal acumen; she was evidently quite talented at picking apart people's stories and fishing out suspicious turns of phrase.

"Goodwin is dead, as of last night," Yusei declared, confirming her suspicions. "He battled against another Dark Signer for control of his vast power, and lost handily. In fact, it is this very Dark Signer that we are traveling to Japan to battle."

"Let's have some details on this enemy, then," Mizoguchi requested, his tone firm and businesslike. "Starting with a precise explanation of this term 'Dark Signer' that you've been bandying about for the past few minutes. From your context it is fairly clear that they are something of a rough equivalent to the Signers, but for the wicked Earthbound Gods rather than the Crimson Dragon. But beyond that, I remain confused."

"Your rough description of the Dark Signers is fairly apt," Yusei said. "Although I have been led to understand that the Jibakushin battled the Akaki Ryu directly in past conflicts, they have decided to take a page from their adversary's playbook in this current generation and reanimate the corpses of certain individuals who died with vengeance in their hearts as their hosts, marking their arms with the malefic signs of the Nazca geoglyphs within which they were imprisoned. The beings who possess these marks appear to lose all remaining shreds of their humanity, devolving into depraved monsters whose only desire is the complete and utter destruction of the world.

"As I stated before, the first Dark Signer was Rudger Goodwin, who surrendered to the influence of the Underworld and relinquished his original mystical birthright in the process," Yusei went on. "After that came a brutish man named Demak, and then an…old friend of mine, Kiryu Kyosuke." A lump formed in Yusei's throat, and he had to take a few more deep breaths before continuing. "The next Dark Signer was the world-famous model Misty Lola, and that was the end of it until just about a month ago. At that point a young woman named Carly Nagisa died, and was resurrected by the hummingbird Jibakushin. I didn't know that at the time, however…I just knew that the Dark Signers had awakened and were threatening my home, and was convinced by Goodwin to lead the Signers in a charge to put a stop to it all."

"I take it you were not entirely successful," Sherry quipped dryly.

"It depends on how you define 'success,'" Yusei returned, the lump growing larger as he neared the portion of the story that he had been purposefully avoiding for the past several minutes. "Rudger, Demak, Kiryu, and Misty were all defeated – and their Gods slain – within the space of a single night, as was Bommer, whom the Dark Signers brought in as a last-minute replacement in an attempt to eliminate both Goodwin and me. And we also managed to seal all of the control towers that prevented the Jibakushin's master, the King of the Underworld, was crossing over into ours. But…"

"But one of the Dark Signers you mentioned previously is still unaccounted for," Mizoguchi cut in perceptively. "What exactly happened with this 'Carly'?"

"We were running on a strict time limit, because the control towers were only going to be effective up until sunset," Yusei rationalized. "So we decided to…split up. Ruka and her twin brother Rua faced off against Demak, Aki went up against Misty, my other best friend Crow Hogan intercepted Bommer, and I dueled Kiryu and then Rudger in quick succession, but…well…"

"Spit it out, _attardé_," Sherry interjected impatiently. "By simple process of elimination, that leaves Jack Atlas to have gone up against Carly Nagisa…evidently, something happened during that duel that you are uncomfortable discussing. So stop beating around the fucking bush and tell us about it already."

"Very well," Yusei responded, his voice throaty and hoarse as he steeled himself to provide the revelation. "While I was not present, I can only surmise that Carly won her match. And in a Yami no Duel, the punishment for losing…is death."

"I believe that I now see what you have been getting at," Mizoguchi stated. "As it would be unkind to force you to speak this truth directly, I shall surmise the remainder of the story from the facts you have presented: your friend and noted Pro-Duelist Jack Atlas faced off against Carly Nagisa and lost, causing him to die. Carly then used her own powers to transform him into a Dark Signer as well, and it is he whom we are now flying to oppose. Am I correct in this?"

"…Yes," Yusei admitted hollowly. "It is as you say – Jack has been taken by the Earthbound Gods and rechristened himself the 'Dark King' of the world. And with all the powers of Hell at his disposal, Jack will be a formidable enemy; he was already a nigh-invincible duelist before his death, and he appears to have gained significant strength since then. That's why I came here to try and track down that _Z-One_ card…I hoped that it might give the Signers an edge in the War to come. But God only knows if it will really help."

Yusei shuddered and ceased speaking; that explanation had stretched the absolute limits of his composure. Instead he buried his face in his hands, while Sherry merely turned to the window and retrieved the Spell Card in question from her pocket, stroking it absentmindedly as they passed the iron apex of the Eiffel Tower.

Mizoguchi, for his part, simply took all of this information in with the stoic and mission-centered attitude that he had developed well at Interpol, dropping into muted silence as well as he carefully piloted their helicopter toward the eastern border of France.

[-]

"So…you're absolutely _sure_ that you're duelists?" Andore Porthos questioned, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Of course we are!" Yoshizo Hayashi shouted, clearly offended. "Why is that so hard for you to accept?"

"My apologies…I've just never seen a serious duelist that actually uses stuff like…_Key Mace_…" Andore clarified, unable to keep a low snicker out of his voice as he mentioned the low-level Normal Monster. Looking back at the entirely staid faces of the three latest "applicants" to their movement, however, proved too much for Andore's composure, and finally he burst into a stream of wild guffaws.

"Again…" Andore began, breathing heavily through his laughter, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to ridicule you guys, but…well, to be frank, the decks you just showed me are pure shit."

Jinbei moved forward, his face lined with fury, but Taro held him back. "Look, we didn't just drive all the way from the fucking countryside crammed together on a single motorcycle just to take this kind of crap!" the blue-haired teenager shouted, ignoring the fact that he had voiced precisely those same objections himself only a couple of hours prior. "We're offering you _our_ help, so would it fucking kill you to show a little fucking gratitude?"

"Fine…I apologize for a third time," Andore replied, finally sobering up and turning stern. "In that case, _you_ justify your presence here. We need all the forces we can get, that's true, but all the same we're not bringing in just anyone off the streets. I have to be certain that we can rely on you three to pull your weight around here."

"Well, for one thing, we brought a fairly decent amount of food, as the message instructed," Taro noted, gesturing to their heavily loaded sidecar. "That should already prove that we are not useless to your cause. And for another, while I'll admit that our cards are not exactly the most…glorious ones ever printed, we more than make up for it with team strategy. You're a member of a Pro-Dueling team – you should at least value that much."

Taro Yamashita pointed with particular emphasis to the two Effect Monsters amongst the motley bunch, and Andore obligingly gave _Holding-Hands Majin_ and _Sleeping Giant – Zushin_ another look. "A stall deck, then," the redhead muttered, understanding now the point of the various high-DEF monsters within their low-budget forces. "I suppose that makes sense, if you're trying to Summon _Zushin_ – not that I know any duelist that would be naïve enough to try."

"Okay, so maybe _Zushin_ isn't exactly easy to Summon…" Yoshizo began, but Andore cut him off.

"Try _impossible_," he corrected. "Not one single person in the history of Duel Monsters has ever done it. Why go through all the effort, when most duels end before twenty turns are elapsed anyway? Hell, _Countdown to the End_ takes the same amount of time to resolve its effect, and it automatically _wins_ you the game. Same with _Exodia_ and _Ouija Board_, for that matter, except that they typically take even _less_ time."

"Fine, we get it," Taro admitted. "Compared to a fancy Pro-Duelist who can buy any card he wants on a whim, a bunch of random commons that we found in the garbage – sometimes quite literally – might seem like nothing. But I should hope that you can at least _appreciate_ the idea of three no-name farmboys scraping together everything they've got and striking out against the world, heading off to an entirely unfamiliar city in the middle of a War for no other reason than to offer their collective strength, mind, and will toward saving as many people as possible from this crisis. Our joint deck theme, when taken as a whole, is meant to convey this; _Holding-Hands Majin_ represents the unbreakable bonds that tie our friendship together, and _Zushin_ represents the culmination of all our hard work: all the power of a literal God, if not quite the rarest one."

Andore appeared to be mulling the subject over, before he broke into a wide grin and chuckled a bit. "I'll admit – you've at least got the right _attitude_ for the job," he told them, handing Taro back the cards he had been examining. "Alright, you've convinced me…welcome to our resistance. If we actually get to dueling in the future, I may not end up putting you three on the frontlines, but I'm sure that there's _something_ I can trust you guys to take care of day-to-day."

"Thank you, sir!" Yoshizo yelled, rushing over to shake Andore's hand enthusiastically, all enmity apparently forgotten. "And let me just say that I've always been a huge fan of your genius play-style…could I, err, possibly have an autograph?"

Just as Andore was about to oblige this flattering (if rather oddly timed) request, however, Jinbei called their attention to the horizon. "Uh…guys?" he said pointedly. "I think that you might want to keep an eye on this."

And sure enough, from the direction that he was indicating, the rest of the assemblage quickly noticed a panting, heavily injured Security Officer running toward them at a pace that seemed unwise, given the sheer amount of blood now pouring from his body. He was a young man, with lumpy hair a shade of dull turquoise, and largely unremarkable when compared with dozens of other police that Andore had encountered in this city in the past.

Which, of course, made the slowly advancing squadron of half-a-dozen zombies pursuing him all the more striking.

Perhaps they were inspired by Andore's prior dismissive attitude toward their abilities, or perhaps they were every bit the valiant-if-unimpressive heroes they painted themselves as, but without a single word the trio jumped straight into action, grabbing discarded pipes from a nearby pile of debris and fending off the ghouls as the Security Officer managed to reach Andore with what was evidently the last of his strength. "Take…drive…" was all he managed to hoarsely utter before collapsing into the redhead's arms, exhausted and bleeding profusely.

Andore did not speak either, but merely propped the man's unconscious form against the wall of _Always_ and arming himself with two pipes of his own, joining in with the three younger men as they batted away the shambling wraiths with every ounce of strength they had. Fortunately the armada that had been chasing the mysterious Officer had been relatively small (otherwise, Andore was absolutely positive that all four duelists would be quite thoroughly dead by now), so working in concert they struck the soulless monsters down one-by-one, forcing them to the ground by sheer battery and then smashing their sunken heads in with unrestrained vigor.

When the last pipe struck dead flesh in a satisfying burst of ectoplasmic goo, the pipes clanged to the ground as the quartet bent over and grasped their knees for support, gasping from overexertion. "About…what I said…earlier…" Andore Porthos huffed, wiping sweat from his brow. "I'm upgrading…your status…from 'maybe useful'…to 'vital badasses.'"

Too worn-out to speak much in return, the rural trio flashed three simultaneous thumbs-up and picked up the fainted Security Officer by the head and feet, carrying him through the door that Andore opened with the push of a button and taking the next irrevocable step forward toward their new destinies.

[-]

Like Ruka, Crow Hogan awoke to find his face covered in tears. Unlike his fellow Signer, however, he was able to pinpoint the source of his distress almost immediately.

The dream had been quite vivid…indeed, nightmarishly so. It had, after all, essentially been an extension of the vision he had experienced after escaping that creepy black fog via a refrigerator, wherein each of his kids had run into his arms, only to fade into smoke before their flesh could touch. To put it mildly, the dream in question had taken that image and…ran with it. The sheer volume of gruesome and appalling deaths that his subconscious had played out for him over the past few hours was almost too horrifying for Crow to even recall, and so at the moment the orange-haired teenager was merely staring up at the ceiling and shaking in his bed, trying to piece together his more logical thoughts on the subject.

He was ashamed – no, _revolted_ – about how little thought he had afforded Kokoro, Taiga, and the rest since his duel with Bommer. Admittedly, a lot _had_ happened in the interim, but that was no excuse; the last he could remember consciously wondering about their wellbeing had been after Jibakushin Uru being blown to smithereens, and the conclusion he reached had been that if they had indeed been brought back to life by that action, then Martha would be able to take care of them.

But of course, that had clearly turned out not to be true. Only the five kids that had been staying with Martha in the first place – plus Rally's group – had reappeared in the matron's charge, meaning either that his children had not been inside the spider to begin with, or that they had been released in an entirely different location, lost and hungry and alone in this land that was rapidly descending into Hell.

Crow shivered at the thought, and most particularly at how incredibly likely it was. True, Kokoro and the others could simply be trapped within the one remaining Earthbound God (or the two remaining ones, if it somehow turned out that Jack now had his own)…but Crow couldn't be sure. And as long as there was at least a sliver of hope that the poor kids might be out there somewhere, Crow _had_ to take that chance.

Taking great care not to wake up any of the other occupants of the garage, Crow Hogan began gathering a few tools they had set aside while clearing space for the beds and other furniture, carrying them out the door and into an abandoned machine shop across the street. The Blackbird might be lying in two pieces halfway across the Satellite, but nothing was stopping Crow from building a new D-Wheel from the ample equipment just sitting around here.

After all, if he was going to attempt a rescue mission in this zombie-infested wasteland, he was going to need all the mobility he could get.

[-]

_Carly Nagisa emerged from her room early the next morning, her cloak billowing behind her as she headed straight for the Dark Signers' meeting room. The Hikari no Yami had taught her so much in such a short space of time, and she was quite eager to alter her shadowy comrades' doubtlessly low first impressions of her._

_The sniveling idiot who had been unable to utter even a single word without a sobbing stutter had died forever last night, and the person who remained pushed open the double doors with a flourish, ready to make a grand speech of epiphany and revelation._

_Unfortunately, there was no audience present._

_The following hour and four minutes had given Carly ample time to familiarize herself with the Dark Signers' headquarters as she searched out her "colleagues" in vain. Several times it occurred to her that her fellow emissaries of darkness might in fact simply be in their respective bedrooms – the only places in the complex that she could not enter without permission – but the part of her mind that was taken up wholly by Aslla piscu's essence knew this to be unlikely. As the Dark Signers slumbered only when their Gods required them to conserve energy, and the power levels of each of the Jibakushin were currently precisely equal, oversleeping was a non-issue…and it wasn't like there was all-that-much to do _besides_ sleep in those quarters._

_Carly finally found the answer to her conundrum when she happened upon one of the lower levels of their base, in what could conceivably be called a garage. In reality, it appeared to be a mechanic's wet dream: a massive expanse of virtually every tool and mechanical apparatus known to man (and a few that weren't), all surrounding a long line of pristine, professional-looking D-Wheels. Kiryu was bent over a golden motorcycle, evidently deep in thought as he tinkered with its exposed engine, while Rudger, Demak, and Misty observed coolly from the side. A few beats passed before Demak noticed Carly and pointed her out to Rudger, who leered._

"_Finally up, my dear?" the Dark Signer leader bantered. "I didn't think that it would take you _this_ long to get your bearings on our headquarters. Future tests of your abilities will require you to be far more…timely."_

"_Oh, shut up," Misty snapped, scowling at him. While Kiryu and Demak had been placated after her abrupt assault of them the previous night by an apology and a promise to buy them each something nice during her next glamoured excursion into the outside world, Rudger had accepted nothing less than full-on sex before he would "forgive" her, an experience which always left her feeling both emotionally drained and fairly pissed-off. As such, her willingness to tolerate Rudger Goodwin's crap this morning, both with regards to her and to Carly, was severely diminished. "Did you sleep well, Carly?" she added to the girl still standing in the doorway._

"_Indeed I did," Carly answered, already projecting an aura of confidence that contrasted sharply from the trembling image she had given off during their last meeting. "And I have, in both the figurative and the literal sense, 'seen the light' over the course of the past fortnight. Now I am finally ready to accept my mission in the obliteration of this imperfect world, so that the paradise of Hell may reign supreme forevermore."_

_Kiryu's insane laugh was as predictable as it was obnoxious, though Demak maintained a neutral expression, his eyes not darting away from the D-Wheel that the younger man was working on. Misty's face however lit up in response to this pronouncement – this was, after all, essentially the culmination of all of the effort she had put forth in caring for and nurturing Carly, even when she had been a worthless human – whereas Rudger merely raised a bemused eyebrow before letting loose a low, throaty chuckle._

"_Had a sudden change of heart, have we Carly?" Rudger jibed, a sick grin across his face. "Considering your pathetic performance last night, _any_ alteration to your behavior could only be a positive one…but this newfound enthusiasm is far more than I expected. So you'll forgive me if I am slightly…skeptical."_

_The scarlet-cloaked Dark Signer sauntered over to his newest recruit as he said this, placing a hand upon her shoulder and patting it mockingly a few times. Acting on impulse Carly's gloved fingers shot upward and grasped his muscular forearm, and with a prod of suggestion from Aslla piscu she wrenched it clean out of its socket with a disgusting pop, before bringing her other hand up to strike Rudger across the face with enough force to send him sprawling to the ground. "Does _that_ remove your skepticism?" she asked coldly._

"_Sure as fuck removes mine!" Kiryu howled, now on his back with laughter. "Anyone who can stick it to the spider-man like that is okay in my book, girl!"_

"_I must concur with my less-than-stable comrade, Carly," Misty stated approvingly, placing a comforting arm around her fellow female's shoulder. "I've been desperately wanting to do something like that for months; thank you for saving me the trouble."_

_Rudger meanwhile was visibly collecting himself on the floor, adjusting his jaw and then carefully sliding his humerus back into the joint, quite grateful toward his God for removing the excruciating pain that would normally be associated with the action. Once the damage was sufficiently repaired, however, Carly (who had been expecting the worst with regards to his retaliation) was instead greeted by the Dark Signer leader's own uproarious cackle, punctuated by repeated fist-slams against the floor._

"_I honestly thought you'd never have it in you, little Carly," Rudger declared, still chortling madly. "It's a good thing that you didn't try that little trick with my _other_ arm, though…then you probably would have ended up blowing this entire room to bits."_

"_You placed a _bomb_ in your prosthetic arm?" Carly exclaimed incredulously. "Why the Hell would you ever do such a thing?"_

"_You never know when certain things might come in handy, my dear," Rudger replied with a smirk. "But enough about that – the point is, our members are finally all gathered and on _roughly_ the same page. This is a glorious day, and one which deserves celebration. From this hour onward, the end of the world grows nigh."_

"_Sounds good to me; never needed much of an excuse to party!" Kiryu shouted giddily, still tinkering meticulously on the motorcycle before him. "Flip on some Who, will ya Carly? Moon's drum rolls always put me in the right mood for this sort of thing," he added, and turning around the former reporter noticed for the first time that she was standing right next to the silver-haired man's stereo system. "CD changer setting number four," he clarified, and Carly dutifully obliged. A melodic but dramatic keyboard solo immediately greeted her ears, and she beamed widely in response; Western rock-and-roll had always been a favorite of hers._

"_What's going on here, anyway?" Carly inquired after a few moments. "I was under the impression that most day-to-day operations were generally confined to the meeting room."_

"_That is normally true," Demak piped up, tugging back his hood and affording Carly the first smile she had ever seen adorn his face. "However, this morning we agreed to perform some routine maintenance on our fleet of D-Wheels; with our final confrontations with the Signers looming, those of us who wind up participating in Riding Duels will need to be ready."_

"_What's with this 'we' business, mister monkey?" Kiryu objected, though his demeanor was still fairly light and humorous. "So far, it's been pretty much just me doing all the work, and the rest of you sitting on your lazy asses and watching. Think I'm going to have to file a lawsuit if this shoddy treatment and lack of appreciation keep holding up…or should I just join the Evil Minions' Union and formally petition my grievances?"_

_This quip finally proved too much for Carly's composure, and with wild abandon she broke into her own shrill laughter, before getting down and examining the part that Kiryu was focusing on with such intensity. "Do you _need_ any help with this?" she asked._

"_Well, not really…but if you're offering…" Kiryu reacted uncertainly. "Well, err, I guess holding this engine in place would be a big help. I need to remove it from the frame, but still keep it elevated at roughly the same height."_

_Carly did as instructed, and with a far more sober expression than she had ever before observed upon his face Kiryu Kyosuke made the necessary fix, grinning in relief as the final bolt tightened into place. "You're not bad for such a green assistant, Carly," he complimented. "Mind sticking around to help with the others? I've got a hefty workload here today, especially with the from-scratch construction of _your_ D-Wheel."_

"_M…Mine?" Carly stammered in surprise._

"_But of course," Rudger interjected with a wave of his hand. "What Demak stated is an absolute – _all_ of our members will need to be adequately prepared to face off against our enemies in a few weeks, whether by Ground or by Riding Duel. You will work with Kiryu on assembling your D-Wheel and then participate in regular riding exercises with him each week. This will be just one component of your training over the course of the month that remains until the opening of the gate to the Underworld."_

"_What will be the others…sir?" Carly questioned, hastily adding the honorific; she might have earned the Dark Signer leader's respect by attacking him, but something was telling her quite strongly that that display was going to have to be a one-time deal._

"_Oh, everything you would expect," Rudger answered slyly. "Strategy meetings with me, deck-building exercises with Demak, practice in the use of your Dark Signer powers with Misty…plus regular 'team-building' sessions with the entire group, so to speak. Rest assured, this will be a highly grueling period in your new life…but I trust that you are up to it."_

_Looking around at the motley crew that was her new "family," all of whom were staring at her intently, Carly returned Rudger's maniacal grin and responded, "Absolutely."_

_And in the background, the English voice which she could not understand but which spoke to her on a deeper level all the same reached the crescendo of its vocal performance, shouting passionately across the room occupied by the very messengers of death:_

"The Exodus is here, the happy ones are near! Let's get together, before we get much older…"

[-]

Carly awoke to a mind-splitting headache, which in-and-of-itself was exceedingly strange. Pain was not something that she had had to worry much about ever since her initial death, as the hummingbird that had resurrected her typically took on such burdens itself, but evidently the injury caused by the errant bullet had been severe enough to limit Aslla piscu's ability to both repair the damage _and_ remove the resultant pain.

In any event, if Carly had known that getting shot would hurt this much, she would have made a greater effort to dodge. But that was just water under the bridge at this point, she supposed.

Jack was still out cold from the condor's brief possession, but Carly didn't mind waiting; her Dark King was absolutely _stunning_ when he slept. In truth, part of the reason that she had acquiesced so readily to his demand to take her own bedroom during his stay with her had been that she was virtually guaranteed (by virtue of her lumpy and uneven couch) to wake up first every morning, giving her the opportunity to observe his majestic form as the first rays of golden sun struck it at the onset of each dawn.

In any event, it took only about half-an-hour of Carly's silent vigil for her husband to come to, shaking his head groggily as he muttered, "Please don't tell me that's going to become a regular occurrence."

"By Aslla piscu, I hope not," Carly swore, shivering involuntarily. While she had nothing but respect for the immense power that being Wiraqocha Rasca's host afforded the Dark King, the few moments that she had witnessed his body being used directly as a puppet by the immortal condor had been nightmarishly horrifying. Even for her, there was something about those glowing eyes and bulging veins that had been unbearably unnatural…

"So, err…do you know what Wiraqocha Rasca's point was in placing that worthless coward in a Thrall, Jack?" she asked, changing the subject slightly.

"My God desires…minions," Jack answered shakily, holding onto a bedpost for support. "A few forces that are a little more mobile than the King of the Underworld or the wraiths that it summoned. And while that "Garome" may be a fool, I do agree with the condor that he should be quite useful for this task. His criminal connections render him ideally placed to search out humans with dark hearts, as should the increased senses that the Jibakushin bestowed upon him."

"When you say 'minions'…" Carly began uncertainly.

"I don't mean additional Dark Signers, no," Jack cut in, correctly surmising the source of her apprehension. "They seem to be more in line with the drones who were taken over by Rudger's spiders…like Ushio, on that fateful day all those weeks ago. You'll notice that the whites of his eyes remained their original color, for example."

"Good," Carly declared simply, her lip curling upward at the allusion to the day that she and her Dark King had met. If these prospective minions were to be more in the line of servants and less of equals, it made accepting what she guessed their eventual roles in this War to be – getting thrown at the Signers as cannon fodder in order to divide the attentions of their enemies – all that much easier. She didn't think she could stand forming attachments to any more beings, only to lose them once again…the dream she had just experienced, and the memories it had rekindled of Demak, Kiryu, and Misty-san, certainly weren't helping in this regard.

"Now, enough about that…how are you feeling, my Queen?" Jack added, his rough hand moving tenderly over her forehead. The brief moment that the bullet had connected, before Aslla piscu had moved to heal the wound a couple seconds later, had frightened Jack completely out of his mind; he was building this world for her and for her alone, and if she was to fade away from him once more…well, he was certain that he wouldn't be able to take it.

"I'm…ugh…fine…" Carly sputtered unconvincingly; the pain within her skull had chosen a very inopportune time to spike once again.

Knowing that there was nothing of real significance he could do to speed along her recovery – that task was the sole responsibility of the hummingbird – the Dark King simply grasped her hand tightly and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "While you heal, why don't I…tell you a story?" Jack offered.

"That…sounds good," Carly replied serenely, clenching her jaw as she continued to feel the biting sting of her cranium being rebuilt, molecule-by-molecule. "What kind of story is it?"

"Why don't I just dive right into it? I detest lengthy introductions," Jack quipped with a small smile, before softening his tone and launching into the tale. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who, by some cruel twist of fate, had ended up in a village of commoners. Lost and alone, the young princess soon forgot about her royal heritage, and instead took up the unglamorous but incredibly vital craft of writing, informing citizens across the kingdom of everything that was going on within it. But though she grew slowly in fame and wealth from her hard work, a small part of her mind still remembered that she was destined for greater things, and so she secretly longed to escape the tedium of her everyday life."

"Hold on a minute," Carly interjected. "I can tell a self-insert fanfic when I hear one."

"Fan…fic?" Jack questioned, clearly confused by the term…which merely elicited a low giggle of untainted mirth from his wife.

"Oh, never mind," she dismissed with a smile, wincing slightly from the strain that the laughter had put on her body. "Go on with your story…just because I've figured out what you're doing, it doesn't mean that I don't find the description of 'princess' quite flattering."

"Right…" Jack responded, still somewhat wrong-footed. Eventually however he cleared his throat and went on, "One day, the king of the land, himself having been a commoner in the distant past, descended upon the village where the princess had long since taken up residence. He had been deposed from his throne after his arrogance and hubris had grown too great, and as a result he now required a new place to call his home.

"Being unused to common courtesy due to the amount of time that he had spent as a monarch, the king brashly barged into the princess' cottage and forcibly carved out a place for himself in her home. Quite taken with the handsome but abrasive stranger, the princess proceeded to provide him with all manners of small favors and services, rarely even receiving a 'thank-you' in return for her efforts. And yet she persevered, in the hopes that her selfless kindness might inspire something greater within him."

Jack paused here to reflect on himself somewhat guiltily for the behavior he was freshly describing, before giving a deep, breathless sigh and continuing, "Eventually, however, the king was contracted by some old allies to join them in a crusade against a mysterious enemy, and though the king had by now fallen deeply and secretly in love with his hostess he departed nonetheless, hoping to prevent her from getting involved with the rapidly developing War.

"But this was not to be," he reminisced with a mix of sadness and languor. "The king's effect on the princess had been so profound, and his disappearance so abrupt, that she could not bear to see him leave so soon. And so the princess disguised herself and set off to investigate the enemies that the king had been asked to battle…but in the process she was captured by a grotesque monster, who, in his infinite cruelty, challenged her to a match to the death. And though the princess fought bravely, she had no true combat experience to speak of, and so eventually the monster overwhelmed and…slew her."

Jack choked heavily on these last few lines, reminding the bubbling rage within the pit of his stomach that Divine had already received his just comeuppance…or at least as close to it as any being this side of Hell could approximate. "Fortunately…" he eventually pressed on, "…the 'enemies' that the princess had been searching for in the first place, a group of largely misunderstood wizards, used a magic spell to bond the poor girl to her familiar, a divine being that restored her to a semblance of life. It was at that point that the princess realized her true destiny: to bring the king into the same undead state that she now occupied, and to reign over the entire land together, as husband and wife.

"But the king was none-the-wise to the true nature of his fate. Instead he was duped by circumstances – and by the knights who had asked for his help in the first place – into believing that the wizards were holding the princess captive, and so he fought with all his heart and soul to defeat them once and for all.

"Eventually he confronted his chosen enemy, only to remove the hood of her mage's cloak and discover to his horror that it had been the princess all along. Misunderstanding the situation he attempted bravely, if rather foolishly, to try and restore her to her living form throughout the course of impassioned combat, until the princess finally granted him mercy from his fanatical quest and ended his life. This was only temporary, however, as she immediately bestowed the bonding spell onto his tender corpse, allowing him to rejoin her in the magnificent state of revenance."

Jack paused for a moment and composed his thoughts to proceed forward, but after a beat he noticed that the eyes of his companion were closed in peaceful slumber, the slender hand within his limp and still. Evidently, the hummingbird had decided at some point during Jack's recitation of the tale that keeping its host awake was burning undue energy as she healed, and had opted for the simplest solution to the dilemma.

Smiling in pure pleasure at the glorious sight of his sleeping Dark Queen, Jack kissed her lightly on her rosy lips and whispered softly, "That's alright. You know how it ends."

Then the Dark King leaned back against his pillows and began thumbing absentmindedly through the cards on his nightstand, waiting patiently for his wife to awaken restored and refreshed.

[-]

The last resident of Zora Laruto's home to wake up with liquid streaming from their eyes that morning was Aki Izayoi, who clutched her covers tightly as she vividly recalled the details of her nightmare.

The dream had begun like so very many nights that she had spent in the care of the Arcadia Movement – Divine had made a craftily worded overture for sex before they retired to their respective rooms, and Aki had declined on account of fatigue. What happened next, however, was certainly _not_ something that had come from memory. The lingering images of the red-haired psychic's rough hands tearing at her skirt, restraining her limbs, and so many other vile acts that she didn't even want to _think_ about were wreaking havoc on her already ravaged psyche, reducing her down to the little girl who had been horrified to hear her father deem her a "monster" so many years ago…

And the worst part of the nightmare, she reflected with a mixture of irony and intense self-loathing, was that the reason why it _wasn't_ a memory didn't even have anything to do with Divine being unwilling to do something like that; given that she now knew him to be a sadistic mass-murderer and child-killer, he seemed unlikely to have had too many moral qualms over something like rape. No, the reason was simply that Aki had answered "yes" to that question _far_ more frequently than she had answered "no"…there had been no need to forcibly take something that was so often freely offered.

Habitually she had had this dream – or ones similar to it – ever since Mikage had revealed the truth about her former mentor the previous month. Considering that she had spent several years considering Divine to be the one man on Earth who understood her, and consequently her absolute soul mate for all of eternity, this had struck a rather significant chord with the young psychic. She had relied upon a devil, slept with a devil, _loved_ a devil with all her heart…and then been burned when that devil had decided to hightail it back to Hell.

The only time period that the Divine-related nightmares had ceased with any level of regularity had been the few days at Goodwin's mansion when a gas pipe had sprung leaks into Yusei's and Jack's bedrooms and the male Signers had been forced to kip in sleeping bags at the feet of other beds until the problem could be fixed – Jack in Rua's room, and Yusei in hers.

Yusei was an ideal roommate, she quickly found; he had the utmost respect for her things, even though the vast majority of the trinkets in the bedroom the Director had provided were not hers to begin with, and generally made sure that she was allowed to use the shower and other such facilities before he would even _think_ about doing so himself. And of course, he had been a perfect gentleman about the changing situation, never taking the lurid peek that Aki was sure ninety percent of Japan's male population would have readily seized in the same position.

And though his presence changed functionally very little about the room, the emotional atmosphere was so dramatically altered that Aki had had absolutely no trouble sleeping peacefully each of those wonderful nights. When the pipe was inevitably repaired just half-a-week later, Aki had experienced nothing if not disappointment; not only that she would lose her eminently amicable guest, but also that she had never seized that opportunity to invite him onto the bed to hold her close, if he just so happened to be in the mood for that sort of thing…

The fact that these nightmares were resurging at the very time that Yusei was out-of-town on some mysterious quest was not lost on her…nor did she consider it at all likely to be a mere coincidence, either. Clearly, her subconscious had anchored her mental wellbeing to Yusei's presence, something that was now proving to be quite unhealthy for her psyche.

Her love for Yusei Fudo – and yes, as of this moment, she was definitely settling on that particular word to describe it – was something that both intrigued and confounded her, inexperienced as she was at this sort of thing. Unlike Divine, Aki knew with absolute certainty that Yusei would never take advantage of her in even the most elementary of senses; he was compassionate, dependable, sincere, and in short virtually everything that one could possibly hope for from a romantic partner. Loving him…there was a definite future in it, if only they could withstand the current crisis. It struck Aki in that moment that Yusei was not only ideal boyfriend material, but indeed potentially ideal _husband_ material, mature beyond his years as he already was.

But here, once again, she hit the snag that derailed the one dream pervading her mind that didn't immediately reduce her to tears. When she mentally described Yusei, the words she selected were those that expressed a _paragon_ of the human condition, with nary a flaw in sight apart perhaps from a tendency to overwork. But when she described herself…there was no comparison. She was the slayer of Misty and (indirectly) Toby Lola, in addition to who-knew-how-many others over the course of the years that she had yielded fully to the monster taking up refuge within her soul…a monster that was still there, lying hungrily in wait, as the events at the amusement park had amply demonstrated. Apparently a single sentence was all that was necessary to unleash the vicious killer locked within her blackened heart, and while with Divine dead there was virtually no chance that the phrase could ever be uttered again the fact that the psychic trigger nonetheless remained dormant within her scared her shitless. But what truly unnerved her was that for all she knew, Divine could have preprogrammed _hundreds_ of such commands into her – he had certainly had ample opportunities to do so, given how frequently he had had her…vulnerable.

No, when it came down to it, there was only one possible conclusion with regards to a potential relationship between Yusei and herself: she was entirely unworthy of him.

So that left one question…where was she going from here? Her current course of action – sulking and wallowing in self-pity until Yusei returned – clearly wasn't doing wonders for her mental health.

The other course of action, naturally, was to try and _work_ through the issues that were currently paralyzing her with fear and anxiety on a nightly basis. With the precise nature of Yusei's "excursion" a complete unknown and no guarantee that he would be returning to their leaderless team any time soon, the Signers and their allies seemed to have little in the way of a concrete game-plan…other than simply laying low and waiting for Jack to make his next move. As such, Aki figured that she probably wouldn't be remiss in moving to address the issues that were currently rendering her a nigh-useless asset to their cause.

The most pressing one, of course, was the question of the other code phrases…should they happen to indeed exist. She had not been given the opportunity to afford the subject much study during her years with the Movement (and now that she reflected upon the matter, there probably had been a rather significant reason for that), but from what little she had gleamed from the literature she was under the impression that deep meditation, as was often brought on by repeated patterned movement, would be one method to reveal any lingering triggers buried at the core of her psyche. Supposedly, the rhythmic monotony would eventually piece off portions of her mind from her general consciousness, allowing her to peruse them at will.

…Hypothetically, at least.

But then, Aki supposed that there was no harm in trying; she certainly couldn't render her mental state _worse_ at this point. Sighing deeply, the young psychic finally made up her mind and extricated herself from her bed; on the ride here she had noticed what appeared to be an abandoned fitness center at the first corner of the block, and while she had never been a particular enthusiast for physical exercise she knew that the facilities it provided would likely prove useful in the delicate process of emptying her mind…and throwing away the pieces of it that still sickened her to her stomach.

And perhaps when that process was completed, Aki would be ready to discard the monster within her forevermore, and be able to look Yusei Fudo in the eye with some small measure of self-worth.

[-]

This woman was different from the others, and P.K. did not like it one bit.

P.K. did not like a lot of things – the darkness being chief among them. Bad things happened when the darkness was left at bay…monsters tended to appear right out of the corner of his eye, certainly waiting to ambush him, while the tendrils of the infinite blackness itself attempted to seduce him into its grasp, so that his mind might once more be swallowed by the shadows that had plagued him since before he could even remember.

Memory…that was the key point. P.K. was sure that he had had a life before the darkness had come and driven everything else out; a family, a career, and even a _name_. But any and all memories from before the curse of darkness had been exacted upon him (for he was certain that that was indeed what had occurred, even though he could recall absolutely nothing of the incident where the darkness had been let loose upon him or just who had committed such an awful deed, other than an incredibly hazy image of what could perhaps be called a golden eye) had been wiped out completely throughout the intervening years, leaving P.K. with nothing more than the clothes on his back (and the enigmatic letters imprinted upon them) to anchor himself to this world.

As a man with literally nothing to lose, P.K. had attempted a great number of offensives against the darkness and its shadowy forces, praying to God or Satan or whoever the fuck would listen that one of them might work and he might be granted even one single day's peace from the all-consuming void that haunted him without end. Though his memories of previous operations were decidedly vague, P.K. could recollect a few particular highlights; gathering every electric light he could track down in the Satellite, for example, and using them to arrange a miniscule corner of the world from which all darkness was strictly forbidden. In his dazzling sanctuary, P.K. had even managed to occasionally slumber without nightmares, an experience that was as blessedly cherished as it was rare.

And then, of course, there had been the fires. Flame was a glorious thing, for no matter how thick the blackness surrounding it was a sufficiently sized blaze would always be capable of piercing through it. As such, P.K.'s most triumphant successes in his crusade against the shadows had been the regular conflagration of entire residential and commercial blocks, an act that P.K. found himself to have quite the talent for. Like all other details regarding his past the source of this aptitude eluded him, but P.K. had an extremely vague sense that he had once derived great enjoyment from turning fire onto others…but as enjoyment in-and-of-itself was alien to his current state, he tried not to linger too broadly on these brief remembrances.

But until this moment, the absolute pinnacle of his victory had been his systematic elimination of the agents of darkness that roamed the Satellite so fervently. When the artificial glows of electricity and flame had proven insufficient to fully alleviate the shadows that constantly tormented him, P.K. had reasoned that the agents of darkness – those that walked amongst its caustic atmosphere freely, without experiencing any of his pain – were perpetuating its influence despite his best efforts, and that killing them all was the only hope he had of finally putting the darkness to rest.

Most frequently he had discovered these sojourners of the night within or nearby a set of streets adorned with crimson lamps, lurking in alleyways or on street corners in a way that was eminently suspicious. And so, with flashlight and chloroform handy (P.K. never ventured into the night air without the former, and the latter was a necessity what with these agents' rather irritating tendency to shout when he came upon them) he had captured and subjugated a dozen young women over the course of the past month. Their eyes were removed, as righteous punishment for their galling ability to stare into the void and _not_ cower back in fear, and then with their throats carefully slit they were preserved and arranged in a neat circle, as a vivid warning to the darkness that he was _not_ to be fucked around with.

But this woman…sure, the other agents had certainly screamed their lungs out and struggled violently against the restraints he applied, but none had ever dared to introduce darkness directly _into_ his brilliant haven! The sheer audacity was leaving the already taciturn man at a true loss for words, his reaction reduced to a raw fury that was convincing him to make a categorical example out of her.

Which was why P.K. was now shuffling over to the small warehouse adjacent to his "workshop," where the supplies for his past runs at arson still remained. Setting this sinister woman aflame and dumping her charred corpse directly into the most lurid depths of the darkness would surely teach it to discipline its agents more thoroughly. The sole duty of his victims was to die, and that was _it_.

So preoccupied was the giant on locating the propane and matches within his mountains of storage that he did not notice that the streaming glow of his flashlight had attracted some undue attention. Security Officer Tetsu Ushio had been keeping his eyes desperately peeled for any small signs of strangeness, and a seven-foot tall shady character bursting out of a seemingly abandoned building and heading off for a nearby shed certainly qualified. Taking great care to avoid the larger man's line of sight, Ushio crept up to the structure and listened closely, and after a few beats his ears alighted on the faint but unmistakable sound of someone struggling against a gag. Holding his breath to steel himself (as he often did in the field), Ushio carefully slipped past the door and began to trace the source of the sound.

The inside of the building was certainly conspicuous enough, in that it was filled head-to-toe with electric lights, giving the place the rough appearance of an exaggerated prison interrogation chamber. Fortunately this at least made it simple for the Signer to find his way through the rather disheveled rooms, ascending two flights of stairs until he burst into the room where the muffled screaming was most prominent.

Notably, this was the only room that Ushio had seen in this structure where there was even the tiniest sliver of darkness, owing to a large number of evidently shattered bulbs resting in a corner. Between the Security Officer and the shards of glass and metal were a large number of wooden chairs, upon which (and Ushio lurched slightly when he realized this) were a variety of preserved corpses, most of which were sitting up straight with eerily plastered smiles but a few of which had clearly fallen over in whatever accident had broken the lights.

And even more notably, one of those figures – which was, incidentally, adorned with neat blue hair and an immaculately crisp blue suit – was _moving_.

"Mikage-san!" Ushio exclaimed in shock, hastening to bend down and relieve her of the ropes binding her to her chair. The knots were erratic and overcomplicated, as if someone not-quite-well in the head (and the Signer had a rather acute suspicion over whom it could be) had arranged them in something of a hurry, and after a few moments of attempting in vain to untie them Ushio muttered "fuck it" under his breath and extracted a service knife from his belt to cut her free.

Severing the thick ropes took nearly a minute, but eventually they were all lying limp and broken to the side, and Mikage was taking full advantage of the opportunity to finally stretch her arms and legs. And then, to Ushio's immense surprise, she seized him around the shoulder and buried her face in his neck, sobbing softly as she tightened the embrace as much as was possible.

The Security Officer stroked her hair a few times and then, reluctant as he was to do so, released her; he knew well that they were far from safe here. Mikage seemed to catch onto this as well as she rushed to her feet and gestured to the door, which Ushio led them through at a brisk but cautious pace. Her abductor could return at any moment, and he wasn't looking to take any chances with that guy.

Unfortunately, their luck on that front did not last long. "You…no…leave!" came a furious voice from the atrium as they reached the bottom of the stairwell, and Ushio once again swore under his breath as he saw the hulking man standing directly in the doorway, pointing at them with a single massive finger.

"Mikage-san, listen to me," Ushio whispered. "I'm going to distract him, and then you run past. Don't stop and don't worry about me, alright? Just get back to Zora's place as quick as you can."

"But I can't…" Mikage began, though the Signer cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"No 'buts' on this one, Mikage-san," he insisted. "I'm not putting this plan up for debate."

And then, without waiting for a response Tetsu Ushio charged at the giant, barreling into him with the full brunt of his broad shoulder. With his hands occupied by a flashlight and a canister of propane P.K. was caught off-guard by the attack, which forced them both sprawling to the ground outside of the building, his flashlight flying off into an alleyway as they did. "_No!_" he screeched, reaching vainly toward his only source of light as he did, but Ushio spared no time in setting upon him, pummeling every inch of his muscular form that he could reach.

Mikage meanwhile followed the Security Officer's orders to a tee and sprinted straight past the quarreling pair, but once she was out of sight she ensconced herself behind another building and observed them closely. Though Ushio had been adamant about her fleeing she simply could not bring herself to completely abandon her rescuer, especially given the amazing sight that she was currently beholding.

Mikage was no stranger to fighting, particularly the sorts of styles that Security Officers were trained in; as Director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau it was technically Rex Goodwin's duty to oversee all combat training of its personnel, and as with many of the more mundane assignments that had come with the position he was prone to pawning it off on her. But as she watched her bestial kidnapper backhand Ushio with one of his massive fists and Ushio retaliate with a right cross and swift uppercut, she got the distinct feeling that she was witnessing something quite a bit more amazing.

There was _passion_ in the Signer's eyes, one which was motivating him to strike against his opponent over-and-over again with a ferocity that could only be termed beautiful. And it was a few seconds after observing this that Mikage realized the source of this zeal was her. By abducting _her_, this man had made things personal with the burly Security Officer, and each emotionally charged punch and kick was a testament to just how much that factor improved his proficiency.

Still, the fact that his opponent was far larger than he was – and built like a _tank_ – was slowly wearing upon him. Every jab that Ushio dished out was returned to him with at least twice the strength, and though he was certainly winning the brawl on the technical side Mikage worried that, passion or no passion, he simply wasn't going to have the stamina to finish this bout.

And that was when she saw it. The building behind which she was hidden featured an old-fashioned brick wall, and several of its component blocks had broken off from normal wearing, forming a small pile of very lethal instruments. And so as Ushio's brutal strikes forced her kidnapper nearer to her position, Mikage took careful aim and then lobbed one of the bricks straight at his domed head.

The improvised weapon missed its precise target, but still connected beautifully with the man's right arm, and the sickening crack that followed made it quite clear that the bone had broken. The giant howled with pain as he wheeled around, searching frantically for the source of the projectile, and that provided precisely the amount of time that Ushio required. In one fluid motion the Security Officer drew his service arm and fired off a single shot, clipping his opponent in the shoulder and forcing him backward from the impact. The man staggered furiously for a brief moment and then collapsed to his knees, evidently having passed out from the shock.

The moment that the malevolent giant fell Mikage extricated herself from her hiding place and bounded over to the bruised and sweating Ushio. What happened next was not something that she had in any way intended, nor something that she had given any level of deep conscious thought to. It was simply an impulse, one that at this moment was far too intense for her to afford even the pretension of ignoring.

She kissed him full on the mouth.

Over the course of her life, Mikage had had three other first kisses. One had been in the sixth grade – kid stuff, and nothing that had had any lasting impact on her social relationships other than a few weeks of mild awkwardness between her and the other participant in the exchange. The next had been her sole high school boyfriend, which unfortunately had proven to be their _only_ one as a result of learning the next day that she was in fact the young man in question's _fourth_ girlfriend at the time. And the last had been with her college boyfriend, who had treated her comparatively well but who had decided to break things off when he was offered a lucrative position in America in their senior year. He wasn't a fan of long-distance relationships, and the farewell kiss he had offered her before catching his plane had been the last one she had experienced for nearly ten years.

It had been a foregone conclusion, for years now, that Jack Atlas would end up being number four amongst that list. But her love for Jack (or perhaps merely her _infatuation_ for him, if what Ushio had insisted several hours prior was to be believed) suddenly seemed so ephemeral as she experienced the visceral, unbridled passion of Tetsu Ushio's firm lips against hers, the kiss deepening without her meaning for it to as she melted like butter in his tender embrace. There was no question that this feeling blew every other kiss (first or otherwise) that she had ever received in her life straight out of the water, and it was only the pressing need for oxygen that eventually forced her to slowly pull away.

"Err…wow…" Ushio sputtered, clearly both ecstatic and monumentally confused. "Now, not to jinx what just happened here, but…"

"We'll talk about it when we get back to Zora's home," Mikage interjected, before the more mischievous part of her psyche caused her to add, "In private."

Ushio responded with what was quite possibly the most sincere and serene smile she had ever witnessed on a man, and tenderly he took her hand in his and led her back the way they had come, away from the limp form of the psychotic maniac who had unwittingly done him a great service this night…in a roundabout sort of way.

[-]

Hours passed as P.K. lay there unconscious, dirt and debris blowing all across his filthy trench coat and dirtying it even further. But as the first droplets of dawn started to cast themselves across the barren district within which he lay, an immense cloak materialized into view, the figure it covered emerging from the shadows and placing a hand upon the giant's broad chest.

_You are the Player Killer of Darkness. Though your legacy is forgotten by all but a few, the wickedness within your heart remains just as strong as it did thirty years ago._

As neither the Reaper nor the Player Killer were currently capable of anything resembling speech, these words passed directly from blackened soul to blackened soul, reaching into his comatose psyche and rattling it with whispers that drifted as if upon the wind.

_You are wounded, in more ways than one – a shadow of your former self, cursed by the lingering powers of an administrator of destiny's judgment. But my Master can heal everything. He can return you to the way you once were…a man who wields dominion over the darkness, instead of shying away in fear of it. Would you swear fealty to him, if he was to offer you that power once again?_

His already simplified mind made even hazier by the shock and pain of the shattered bone and the gunshot wound, all the Player Killer could do was to think vaguely in the affirmative. But this seemed to be enough, as the cloaked figure extracted one of the exalted feathers that he had been entrusted with and jabbed it straight into the Player Killer's heart.

_Then rise. Rise again, Player Killer of Darkness._

And as the divine power of the feather overtook his mind completely, pushing out everything but an all-consuming devotion to his Dark King, the Player Killer did as he was bade, bringing his massive form to his feet and permitting the Reaper to ensconce him within the folds of his cloak, until both figures vanished completely, searching intently for more hearts of pure and unqualified darkness to consume utterly.

[-]

A/N: On the one hand, yes, I did indeed keep you all waiting over three bloody months for this thing. XP

On the other hand, it currently clocks in at over _28,000_ words.

It really was not my original intention to make this chapter quite _that_ long, but a whole Hell of a lot (mainly character development-related stuff) happened to come to a head here. In particular the section at Duel Academia came out _way_ longer than I had planned it to, but that couldn't really be helped; it featured the last stand of the central setting of an entire _series_, and I wanted to make sure that I gave the forces that died defending it their just due.

It should also be noted that there were quite a few complicating factors on the real-life production of this chapter, most especially the fact that my old laptop broke in September, something which all-in-all ended up setting me back about a month in overall progress. Add to that the whole "going back to school" thing (with homework and papers galore!) and I simply ended up way behind.

Now, a few notes I want to get out of the way before I begin the reviewer shout-outs…

- Since I saw a lot of this in the reviews from Chapter 10, let me just make it clear: unless I specifically announce that I have done so, you should never assume that I have given up on this story. If this thing does end up becoming too much of a burden and I become forced to drop it for an extended period, rest assured that I will let you all know ahead of time. If you don't hear anything from me, on the other hand, then you should simply assume that I am working on a mammoth chapter like this one.

- Now, having looked at various "shipping lists" amongst my readership, I'm guessing that I'm going to receive a lot of flak for establishing Manjoume/Asuka as canon in this universe, as opposed to the fan-preferred Judai/Asuka. I've personally always been partial to the former, however, as Manjoume's crush on Asuka was always the height of GX's hilarity to me. Also, I'm of the belief that pairing Judai with anyone other than Yubel post-Season 3 requires grossly misreading his character…and if y'all will have the patience to see how I interpret Judai in this universe (yes, he is alive at this point and I'll be dealing with him fairly soon), I hope that you will come to understand why I see things that way.

- Speaking of the surviving GX characters…yeah, they'll be back. I'm not making any promises as to when, however, but they will end up having a very significant effect on the plot in the long-run.

- The first person who can figure out the source of the names in Carly's obituary gets a cookie. :)

Alright, now with all that out of the way…it's shout-out time, baby!

Thirteen wonderful reviews for Chapter 10 makes my heart sing, so my sincerest thanks go out to Darkcarly, Jen Kritique, Zaconator and Zackis, KaliAnn, Xoroth, Sara Crewe, Hyrulian Hero Akai, Alicia, Ox Boy Jr. 53Z, JAckkku, KuraOkami13, orangerebellion, and Viewtiful Jeff, with particular emphasis on the latter two for their truly stellar observations. I lovez you all! :3

I'd also like to take this opportunity to afford two non-standard shout-outs: first to themostdarkestheart for their particularly in-depth review of my one-shot "The Devil and the Star," and second to TV Troper Lale for recommending this fic on TV Tropes, which is pretty much the highest honor I could ever possibly receive for doing this. Lale, if you have an account on this site, I would like to pay you back for the self-esteem bump by allowing you to request a single one-shot from me. PM me with your request if you decide to take me up on this offer.

And while I'm on the subject, a free one-shot will go out to anyone who produces a piece of fan-art based on this story, or another creative piece of any sort that is inspired by it. Having specifically mentioned TV Tropes (which I am utterly obsessed with; TV Tropes Will Destroy Your Life indeed) above, the establishment of a TroperWorks page for this story would be worth _two_ one-shots, plus infinite hugs.

…Yes, my ego is actually large enough that I'm _asking_ my fans for a TroperWorks page. So sue me and all that jazz. ;P

Now, onward to the specific reader responses (quite a few this time, LOL)…

**Jen Kritique:** With regards to the description of Himuro, keep in mind that that particular passage was written from Leo's perspective, and Leo happens to share his mother's penchant for…shall we say, "over-dramatics." So yes, in his mind a person like Jin with above-average musculature could conceivably be called a "hulk."

**Zaconator and Zackis:** I believe that the chapter speaks for itself with regards to the first question; yes, characters from DM and GX can and will appear in this story, and indeed (as of this chapter) already have. Keep in mind, though, that the proportion of main character deaths amongst the DM crowd is even _higher_ than that of the GX characters; to put it bluntly, Yliaster doesn't fuck around. The only definite deaths that I'm confirming at this point are Seto and Mokuba Kaiba (and Pegasus, but that one was natural)…but yes, there are others.

As for the second question, I run an old-school Demon/Fiend deck (Necrophia, Hades, etc., though with some newer cards like Gorz and Caius thrown in). I don't play the real-life game much anymore, thanks to a general lack of opportunity to do so, but I still find it an entertaining hobby.

**KaliAnn:** I thought that I might be "called out" on this, so I'd like to make it clear that it is neither Jack's nor my intention to "push Carly to the side." Rather, it is a demonstration of Jack's craftiness; notice that he gives his subjects no more information than is required for them to do what he demands them to do. The identity of his Queen, or even the fact that he now has wings (notice that they do not receive mention in any of the descriptions of his projected image) are things that he is choosing to conceal until such time as revealing them becomes useful. For one thing, this ensures that he and he alone remains the sole target of any attempts at retaliation from the populace; if Carly is unknown to most of the people who might plot against him then that makes it less likely that she might be caught in harm's way.

**Xoroth:** The "power" that the King of the Underworld senses is a locus of spiritual energy, as Ruka explains above. The Sangenma are simply the most powerful of the various spirits residing there (or _were_, anyway).

**Sara Crewe:** But Carly's glasses are _so_ cute! XD

In any event, love ya too, my dear. :3

**Hyrulian Hero Akai:** I was hoping that someone would catch the Zelda references, LOL. I'm quite the fanatic for the series, so it seemed only natural when dealing with a character named "Zora"…

As for Aki, I acknowledge that she's been out of this story's spotlight for far too long, though I hope that her scene in this chapter sufficiently explains the reason why. Rest assured that that scene represents the onset of a character arc that should last for most of the rest of the story; I am inordinately fond of Aki's character and am looking forward to developing it out of what we might call the "emo rut" that she is currently marred in.

**Ox Boy Jr. 53Z:** Unfortunately, I have a blanket policy against OC's in this story, whether mine or someone else's. But with such a rich tapestry of B-List characters to draw Team Unicorn's resistance from in the canon universe, I don't feel like I'm missing out at all. ;)

**orangerebellion: **What Mizoguchi was up to during the time that Sherry was visiting the Leblanc mansion will eventually become clear. And since I've already revealed that he's actually an undercover Interpol agent…well, let's just say that he wasn't visiting the Louvre.

**Viewtiful Jeff:** Angela is in precisely the same place that she would be in the canon universe at this point. Keep in mind that the _only_ alteration I have made to the canon events has been Carly's glasses failing to fall; everything not directly affected by that, including Angela's whereabouts at the time that the condor is Summoned, remains unchanged.

…So yeah, she's inside Wiraqocha Rasca's belly. Suck for her. ;P

That Team Unicorn (or at least Andore and Jean) still come off as somewhat arrogant pricks despite their heroic roles is entirely intentional; if you didn't want to smack Andore at least once over the course of this chapter, then I'd be very surprised. The bittersweet truth is that not everyone who steps up to fight evil is an entirely nice person themselves, and Team Unicorn's characterization is meant to reflect that.

And with regards to the "homoerotic undertones"…their symbol is a unicorn and their fortress is named after an Erasure song. I don't think that they're really trying to hide anything. So while I haven't completely made up my mind about it, my gut feeling is that Jean and Andore are in a committed relationship and have been for a fairly extensive period. Their banter is generally written with this subtext in mind.

As for Team Ragnarok, don't fret on that note. They should be coming in next chapter and will factor heavily into how things progress from there, and while their parallels to Team 5D's will not be ignored I don't intend to let those similarities define their characters as heavily as they did in the canon universe (particularly with Brave).

Shooting Star's not coming about in this fic, unless my plans change heavily. But Yusei will certainly receive assistance in making sure that his deck remains on-par with Jack's…and I'll just leave it at that.

And lastly, the Road Warrior thing…yeah, that was my screw-up, LOL. Fortunately Yusei had two unused cards in his hand at the end of the canon version of the duel, so it didn't take much effort to tweak the move so that it worked (namely, making _Shield Wing_ one of those two cards and adjusting the effect of my fan-made _Junk Burst_ so that it no longer increased the Special Summoned monsters' Levels). The correct version of the move has been edited into Chapter 10 for about a week now. So thanks for the heads-up! :D

[-]

The forces of good have gathered, and now is the time for them to finally get organized. As Team Unicorn's resistance begins to mobilize as a unit and the Signers head off on their own respective quests of self-discovery, the one man with the capability to unite them all returns to Japan…only to find that the situation has deteriorated quite a bit since his departure. And meanwhile, in the backstreets and alleyways of the world the Reaper skulks, searching out the optimal armada of corrupt souls to serve his Master's bidding. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 12: _Reaping_.

– Masterdramon


	12. Reaping

**My Dark King – Chapter 12: Reaping**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

"Alright, I'm sure y'all are wonderin' why I brought ya here today," Syd Wilkes opened wearily.

"Scheiße, Herr Wilkes," interrupted Nicolas Verbrechen, snickering. "Could you be any more of a walking cliché if you tried?"

"It's rude to interrupt a host when he's speaking, German boy," shouted a plump green-haired man from the back of the room, unsheathing a knife threateningly. "So why don't you shut that fucking mouth before the Magician's Four shut it for you?" Right on cue the aforementioned Duel Gang tightened in formation, hands shooting to belts and pockets.

Immediately Nicolas' "back-up," a pair of thuggish brutes that Syd believed were named Hans and Hermann, jumped up from their seats and drew knives as well, facing off against their opposite numbers with barely restrained bloodlust in their eyes. Not for the first time Syd questioned the wisdom of his decision to include the notoriously volatile trio known as "Team Catastrophe" in this little gathering, but the matter could not be helped; their leader was descended from a prominent Yakuza family through his mother's side, making exclusion of his little crew from major underworld dealings fairly difficult.

Sighing exasperatedly, Syd signaled wordlessly to one of his men to nip this altercation in the bud before it could escalate any further, and with an ear-shattering clang the controls for the industrial conveyor belt above them were activated, causing all gathered to drop their weapons and cover their ears. Syd waited for a few seconds before giving the signal again and ending the cacophony.

"Now that I _finally_ have yer attention, let's get down ta business," Syd began again. "There's one simple reason why I've just gone through all the trouble of assembling every single Duel Gang here in Satellite. Y'all seen that broadcast from the B.A.D. area last night?"

The question was entirely rhetorical, of course; only a deaf, dumb, and blind man could possibly have missed _that_ transmission. As such, there was a general murmur of assent amongst the assemblage, punctuated here-and-there by the irritated whispers of those who wanted the D-Wheel smuggler to get the Hell to the point already. Syd was understanding of this; they were, after all, fairly busy people, especially in times like these.

"Well, anyway…" Syd went on, "I'm sure y'all probably noticed that little part at the end, yeah? Where Jack Atlas offered a reward for capturin' those Fortune Cup duelists?"

"Let's be honest here," Nicolas interjected pointedly. "Said 'reward' was simply _not_ getting killed."

"Hey, it's better than the alternative," quipped Syd. "Point is, I'm thinkin' that we should get organized and give findin' those bitches a shot. The whole world's goin' tah shit anyway, and I for one don't wanna join it. So is anyone else here with me?"

The murmuring certainly grew louder in response to this question, and a few of the voices contained within appeared to be at least mildly interested.

Then, another voice from the back rang out; a member of the green-haired duelist's "Magician's Four," and the sole female amongst that group (and for that matter, very nearly the sole female in the entire _room_). "Look, I get what you're saying," she drawled, "but papa didn't raise no fool. If you came up with this oh-so brilliant plan yerself, why the fuck would you try and spread the wealth to four-dozen random strangers? That kind of 'generosity' doesn't get you too far in this world, dumbass."

"Yer right 'bout that," Syd admitted. "Truth is, yeah, I got me an extra reason why I'm asking for help from y'all."

"Which is…?" a member of Team Insect piped up.

"Well, normally I'd just use mah own crew for a job like this," the career criminal related. "But when those creepy-ass zombie fucks got released last night, most of mah boys were in the middle of picking up some…merchandise. Those three guys y'all see behind me? Yeah, that's all I got left of mah original gang."

"So…let me get this straight," Nicolas said slowly. "You're saying that even though we – a shitload of pissed-off criminals who pretty much all hate your guts on principal – outnumber you by over ten-to-one, we should all start working for you and go along with _your_ plan, probably just so that you can screw us over and take all the credit once we succeed? I've got the measure of your thought processes pretty well down, ja?

"N…Not at all!" Syd stammered, mentally revising his earlier appraisal of whether or not inviting Team Catastrophe to this forum had been a good idea. Connections or not, Nicolas was _far_ too savvy to take this grunt-work lying down, which made him far too dangerous to keep around if this operation was to succeed. "Err…why would y'all hate me so much?" he added awkwardly, trying to stall.

"Oh, _that's_ a tough one," Nicolas growled sarcastically, his tone now dripping with barely concealed fury. "Could it perhaps be the _years_ that you spent as a Security Officer, busting our asses every time you came into town? You arrested a lot of good friends in those days, motherfucker…not to mention mein Vater."

"Ya gotta understand…I didn't have much choice!" Syd equivocated. "I was the mole for this D-Wheel ring at the time, so I _had_ tah do the jobs those Security fucks gave me."

"And that changes things _how_?" Nicolas countered. "I don't give a shit what reasons you might have had for joining up with Security – fact is, you _did_. And that means I want you fucking dead."

And then, to the shock of everyone in the chamber, Nicolas pulled out a crisp handgun from within the folds of his jacket, pointing it straight at Sid Wilkes' forehead. "Got this baby off dear Mutter a few weeks ago, right before the poor bitch finally kicked the bucket," he explained with a satisfied smirk. "I've been waiting for a Goddamn long time for a chance to do this, _Herr Wilkes_. And now you've been fucking stupid enough to just _hand_ me one."

"Hey, hold up a minute!" a member of Team Golem shouted, jumping out of his seat and grabbing Nicolas by his trigger arm. The half-German's grip did not loosen, however, and Syd began to sweat profusely. He had never really thought much of the years he had spent infiltrating Security in order to throw them off the scent of their smuggling ring; it had simply been yet another job, one that he had succeeded at quite victoriously until he had been forcibly outed by some upstart little bitch playing at being a journalist. But since then, as Syd had used his experience to rise through the ranks and eventually become leader of their gang, the memories of that particular chapter in his criminal career had naturally faded, as all trivial matters eventually did.

Unfortunately, Nicolas Verbrechen did not appear to see it that way.

"Don't…touch…me," the brunette enunciated threateningly, his eyes still not leaving Syd's shaved skull. Hans and Hermann echoed this sentiment by standing up as well and roughly shoving the opposing gang member away from their leader.

…Said gang member instinctively retaliated by extracting his own knife and slashing at the nearest target, with the result being Hermann screaming violently as blood spurted from his abdomen. That was the point when all Hell broke loose.

Armed with blades or just with plain fisticuffs, the remnants of the Satellite's once-strong assortment of Duel Gangs began beating each other savagely, splitting roughly evenly between those attempting to defend Syd – presumably because they agreed that banding together to track down Yusei Fudo and the rest was a good idea – and those who seemed to agree wholeheartedly with Nicolas' desire to see a bullet placed firmly between his beady eyes. Smartly, Team Insect and the Sakana Gang decided to vacate the premises altogether.

In any event, the Magician's Four leader eventually managed to tackle and stab Hans, distracting Nicolas long enough for the rest of his team to sneak Syd out a back door. "Don't worry about that piece of Nazi shit back there," the green-haired man said as he caught up to his fellows, huffing and puffing madly. "_Some_ of us are still sane enough to know a good opportunity when we hear one."

"We'll go back and try again at recruiting from the other gangs once the fire dies down here," another member assured him coolly. "Hopefully by that point those Catastrophe fucks will have…"

His sentence was cut short, however, by the rather conspicuous sight of the abandoned factory they had just vacated _exploding_.

The plume of smoke and flame was enormous, and while they had managed to clear the affected area in time the convection was still severe enough to sear off large portions of the five duelists' skins. All other thoughts driven out of their minds by the sheer agony, Syd Wilkes and the Magician's Four collapsed to the ground in a whimpering mass, all dignity forgotten as they cringed and cried out from the torturous burns.

"Well, well…what do we have here?" came a smug voice from behind them, and Syd opened his scorched eyelids a fraction of an inch to observe the shadowy outline of Nicolas Verbrechen emerging casually from the inferno, apparently unscathed.

"H…How?" Syd choked out, unable to believe his eyes.

"How did I survive that, you mean?" Nicolas surmised, pulling out his handgun once more. "No fucking idea. But I'm guessing that it has something to do with whoever – or _whatever_ – started that explosion, because it sure as Hell wasn't natural. Not that I really _care_ all that much, Herr Wilkes. All that matters to me is this: the world's ending, and as far as I'm concerned…that means it's _just_ the time to settle old scores."

Satisfied that he had gotten off the proper pre-mortem spiel, the half-German took careful aim at his fellow lawbreaker, and with a single click of the trigger, ended his life. Watching the members of the Magician's Four writhe in anguish as they were splattered by their would-be-coordinator's crimson blood, Nicolas took stock of both their obviously intense pain and the fact that they had tried to steal his target away from him, shrugged, and then shot them all as well.

"You…do…good," said a gruff voice behind him, and Nicolas Verbrechen smiled with satisfaction as his deepest suspicions were confirmed.

"Was pretty damn sure that _someone_ was watching me this whole time," he stated loudly, turning around to observe a muscular giant in a trench coat and a squat hooded figure that exuded an aura of implacable malice.

"We make…people…more…angry…" the giant grunted in the stilted, disjointed language of a toddler…or a mentally ill person. Which, upon further reflection, he probably _was_. "Then…we make…building…burn big…but not kill…you…"

"Well danke schön for _that_, retard," Nicolas returned in simpering tones. "But to get right to the point, _why_ in the Hell did you feel the need to do all that? I mean, not that I'm complaining – I finally got my big shot at revenge over this Arschloch, and a couple dozen random murders are always great fun on the side, but you've still got me pretty damn lost."

Instead of answering, however, the cloaked figure glided over to his position and, before Nicolas could say or do anything further, stabbed him in the chest with what appeared to be a jet-black feather.

Instantly the half-German went rigid and fell to his knees, his eyes glazing over as his perception of the outside world faded to nothing, all his attention diverted instead to a single, ominous whisper that was rapidly invading the darkest corners of his mind…

_You are Nicolas Verbrechen. As the Reaper, the collector of broken and wayward souls, I am drawn by the darkness inherent within human hearts. My senses proved unable to resist such a concentrated gathering of sin and wickedness, so I remotely enhanced the aggression of every criminal present in order to…test you all. And out of the Hellfire I have rained upon this congregation, you alone have emerged victorious. This impresses me._

_I can see your entire history, Nicolas Verbrechen. You were truly born into the world of crime – the only son of the Zenitora family, and the man who should have inherited their entire ill-gotten legacy in the fullness of time._

_But there was an issue, wasn't there? Your father was Kristoph Verbrechen, a German national. And your grandparents were not pleased with their daughter's indiscretion in this regard…not pleased at all. Shortly before you attained the age of majority you were disowned, excluded from partaking in the Zenitora fortune, cast out of your only home – and left to fend for yourself in the seedy underworld of the Satellite, with nothing but the occasional dropping of your mother's surname to assist you in navigating the world's terrors._

_And you hardened over those years…transformed into a ruthless sociopath, one with no regard for anyone other than himself. Even the lackeys you recruited into your own small gang were merely a means to an end – a pair of mentally deficient sycophants who would affirm that your dual heritage was something that strengthened rather than undermined you, even as preoccupations over your own weakness ravaged your psyche. For a man that grew up with nothing but rejection, it was the only natural response._

_But now I offer your battered soul an opportunity to escape this vicious cycle. I speak for a Master of most infinite supremacy, one who can grant you the power to bury the burdens of your origins once and for all. You desire that greatly, do you not? To attain the strength to break away from all that limits you in this cold, ignominious Hell – that and more shall come, if you merely swear undying fealty to the Dark King._

Nicolas could not currently move his lips – indeed, he could scarcely form a coherent thought in this particular state – but nevertheless there was certainly a twinge of intrigue in the core of his blackened spirit…for he had never been one to turn down an offer of power, no matter what the cost. All that he had been through since the moment of his bastardized birth had taught him one thing: life was pain, and the only way to survive was to gain enough power to ensure that _you_ were the one inflicting it.

And so with that in mind, Nicolas yielded to the intoxicating influence of the shadows attempting to permeate throughout his being, offering the Deathlike figure stooped before him the rough mental equivalent of a nod.

_Then rise. Rise again, Nicolas Verbrechen._

[-]

While her role as matron of her orphanage had provided Martha Okasama with immeasurable happiness over the years, there was no denying that serving as surrogate mother to so very many children carried with it a significant downside.

Martha was a worrier by nature, and raising a few dozen toddlers – some even from infancy – in the midst of a crime-ridden slum ensured that she would be losing quite a bit of sleep over their collective fates. She still remembered the time that Nerve had fallen in with the wrong crowd and eventually into a crippling heroin addiction, necessitating a full-on intervention from their entire "family" to convince him to quit. And then there was Crow, and the now countless instances in which he had been arrested by Security trying to attain cards and other small luxuries for him own group of kids; she absolutely admired his compassion and his dedication, and was quite touched that she had inspired him to follow in her footsteps to such a degree, but that didn't stop her from shedding a wall of tears every single time the long arm of the law caught up with him.

But Jack had always been the most distant of her wayward sons, and his current state was completely shattering her heart. She had been aware, at least dimly, of the growing rift between the young Jack Atlas and his adoptive brothers and sisters, but by the time she realized that it had risen to the breaking point it had already been too late; Jack had deliberately endangered poor Rally in order to make off with Yusei's first D-Wheel and escape to the city, allowing him to climb to the top of Neo Domino's hierarchy with the entirety of his past, and of his surrogate family, cast off so that they could not besmirch his now world-famous name.

Still, things had seemed like they were changing. Yusei had risked life and limb to infiltrate the city as well and save Jack from himself, and though her eldest boy's fall from grace had been anything but painless he had nonetheless joined the side of good when it had mattered, allowing her to welcome him back with open arms when he finally made his sojourn back to the Satellite.

So what had happened? Martha knew that the Dark Signers were cruel and wicked beings by design, their human personalities completely supplanted by the evil Gods that pervaded their essence, but Jack's mysterious conversion into their leader had been entirely unexpected, going further than even her deepest nightmares could have ever anticipated. Not only had he callously ordered the capture of his deepest friends and allies (including two men who had been nothing if not brothers to him since he was four), but he had even expressed the desire to devastate the entire _world_ if he was not stopped. And with that bone-chilling "King of the Underworld" monstrosity under his command, it looked like he just might have the power to succeed…

Martha Okasama was quite swiftly interrupted in the process of that thought, however, by the sound of brisk knocking upon Zora's front door. A moment later she was throwing the much-abused wooden pane wide open and frantically embracing Tetsu Ushio and Mikage Sagiri, before crying, "Where have you two been? We assumed the worst after we all woke up and you were both still gone!" And indeed she had; her worrying with regards to Jack had only been compounded by the protracted absence of two of their number, particularly with those horrifying ghoulish creatures still patrolling the streets across Satellite.

"S…Sorry, Martha-sama," the burly Security Officer answered guiltily, not meeting her gaze. While a part of him was a little annoyed at being chided like he was one of her children, Ushio was far too touched by the matron's concern to care; her puffy eyes made it quite clear that she had been crying on their behalf. "Mikage-san was kidnapped, and I was in too much of a haze of worry over her safety to even think to check back in here. That was irresponsible, and I apologize for it."

"No…no, it's alright," Martha returned, all chastisement fading from her tone now that she knew the whole story. "Just…make sure to let someone know before running off like that, okay? The Satellite isn't safe to wonder around right now."

"Is everyone else still here?" Mikage piped up uneasily.

"Mostly," Martha replied, biting her lip. "Crow is across the street – trying to construct a new D-Wheel, from what I can tell – and Aki-san said that she was going down to the gym on the corner to do some meditation. But Saiga…he volunteered to go out looking for you both a couple of hours ago. He gave me this little handheld computer thing to let him know if you returned before he did, but I'm afraid I'm not really great with this sort of thing…"

Learning that Saiga – whose history with both Security in general and with him specifically wasn't exactly pleasant – had just gone out and risked his life to find them increased Ushio's feelings of remorse by a factor of about a thousand. "Here, let me," he told Martha, taking the PDA that she proffered and sending a quick message to the grizzled youth. "Maybe I should go and search for him myself, though…just to be on the safe side…"

"No!" Martha exclaimed, surprising them all with her volume. "I mean…that would defeat the whole purpose of him leaving in the first place, wouldn't it? I tried to convince him of the same thing, but…well, he's like Yusei. Always needs to go off playing the hero – something you seem to get up to pretty regularly yourself, as I've observed."

"It's like Martha-sama says, Ushio Nii-san!" shouted a small voice from the side, causing all three adults to shift their gazes downward. His hands curled up in tiny fists, Takya Katagara added, "Yusei-san put you in charge while he's away, didn't he? We need you here!"

Strictly speaking, Yusei had actually put him _and_ Crow in charge, even though the younger Signer was clearly not currently in a position to make executive decisions. Still, this was a good point. "Fine," Ushio acquiesced, sighing. "I'll give Saiga one hour to get back here, but if he doesn't, I'm going after him personally. No one is going to be left behind from this point forward, so long as I have anything to say about it."

The firmness and conviction that filled the Security Officer's stern features as he declared this caused Martha to tightly hug him once more and Mikage to squeeze his arm encouragingly. Ushio shared a meaningful glance with the blue-haired secretary at this, and without another word they proceeded to an empty room, tussling Takya's hair affectionately as they did.

[-]

"What _were_ those things, anyway?" came a voice that seemed to be traveling through a thin tunnel or some other distorting medium. Soichi Kazama was versed enough in medicine to recognize that he was currently in the process of regaining consciousness, though he was finding it difficult to immediately place _why_ such a thing was necessary. Fortunately, the conversation going on above his limp form was doing a good job at jogging his memory.

"We have no freaking clue," said another voice, one that was deeper and more even in tone. "All we know is that some giant monster thing started rampaging around and destroying the city last night. Those walking corpses that we fought off are like its foot-soldiers, basically. But as for what they _really_ are, I couldn't tell you."

Giant monster…walking corpses…

"The drive!" Kazama screeched, shooting upward from his bed and severely startling the small assemblage around him. "Tell me…tell me you took the drive!"

It took a few beats for Andore Porthos to recover from the initial shock of the young Security Officer's sudden recovery, by which point Yoshizo Hayashi was already placing a kind hand on his shoulder, gently trying to calm the injured man down.

"Err, I'm still not exactly sure what you mean by that, but I'm going to guess that you're referring to this," Andore stated, pulling out a black flash drive from his pocket. "We found this tucked into your uniform when we brought you in."

At the sight of the tiny object, Kazama visibly relaxed by a fair margin, genially allowing Yoshizo to return him to a roughly horizontal position. Now that he had the time to do so, he was beginning to notice a rather copious amount of bandages wrapped across various portions of his body, so he figured that getting a bit more rest was probably something of a good idea.

…But first, it was time for a little information gathering. "My apologies, but might I ask who you all are?" he asked, bending his neck slightly to observe the half-dozen or so people gathered around his makeshift hospital bed. "I came here tracking a Duel Network signal sent out by a man named Jean…is that you?"

Andore chuckled. "Nah, but Jean's my teammate and leader…when I let him get away with it," he explained, smirking. "He and the other member of my team, Breo, are in another room taking care of some business. As for me, you can call me Andore." Then, gesturing to each of his allies in turn, he added, "Those three to your left are named Taro, Yoshizo, and Jinbei, respectively. The big guy in the corner is Jin, and the old man next to him is Yanagi." As all five men offered him waves (and soft pats on the shoulder, in Taro's and Yoshizo's cases), an almost cartoonish crash echoed from the doorway, causing Andore to finish with an indulgent smile, "And _that_ would be Stephanie."

"S…Sorry! Sorry!" Stephanie Bloomsdale shouted, dusting herself off and retrieving a tray that, miraculously, had managed to stay perfectly intact despite her spectacular pratfall. "Err…I hope you like coffee, sir," she stammered, blushing brilliantly as she poured him a cup of the smooth liquid. Taking quick stock of his current physical condition, Kazama gathered that he had been given some fairly heavy-duty painkillers before waking, but regardless he still felt inordinately cold and clammy from the hours he had spent fleeing from those horrific creatures in the open air. As such, the prospect of a hot beverage was quite welcome, and with a polite nod the Security Officer took the cup from her and slowly tipped the blend down his hoarse throat.

While Soichi Kazama had always been completely straight-laced in the manner in which he conducted his life – and therefore had never had even a fleeting experience with elicit drugs – his immediate impression of this beverage was that the sensations it generated must have been roughly on the same level as crack cocaine. Sputtering slightly from the blissful warmth now spreading throughout his head and torso, Kazama coughed, "What do you _call_ this stuff?"

"_Blue-Eyes Mountain_, sir," she stated, bowing demurely. "It's my specialty!"

"Well then, my utmost compliments to the chef," Kazama returned with a charismatic smirk, causing her blush to return in full force and for Stephanie to turn away from him in flattered embarrassment. Andore seemed to take this as a cue to instigate his own line of questioning.

"Alright, now that you've heard who _we_ are, I think it's well-past time for you to return the favor," the redheaded duelist declared.

"I suppose you've got a point there," Kazama replied wryly. "My name is Soichi Kazama, a junior officer with the Public Security Maintenance Bureau. We got your leader's transmission last night from one of the Duel Disks at headquarters, right as a whole slew of those zombie things started to break through the building's defenses. The entire rest of my squad decided to hold their ground so that I could…so that I could get that drive to you." The blue-haired officer choked up quite a bit as he related this last detail, as it didn't take a genius to figure out what must have happened to his fellow policemen after he made his narrow escape. Stephanie managed to produce a small handkerchief from a pocket in her maid's uniform and gently dabbed it against his eyes, for which he was quite grateful.

"So what exactly is so important about this thing, anyway?" Andore inquired, waving the flash drive around for emphasis.

"That little device has virtually all of Security's most sensitive data extracted onto it," Kazama announced. "Including the files from the database that tracks every person in the city with a criminal mark."

"What good can that do, though?" Andore asked tepidly, giving Jin Himuro and Tenzen Yanagi – both of whom were nervously rubbing their own laser-bestowed markings – a sideways glance.

"Yusei," projected a deep voice from the entryway, and a moment later none other than Senator Hideo Izayoi strode into the room, accompanied by his wife and a freckled young man with messy blond hair and a small nose ring. The boy immediately set to work examining the readings from the machine to which Kazama was currently attached, making a few small adjustments.

"Yusei…isn't that something to do with Momentum, sir?" Kazama guessed, inclining his head respectfully to the elder gentleman. "I believe I came across that term during a physics class once or twice."

"It is indeed," Senator Izayoi responded. "However, it is also the name of a young man whom I met fairly recently – a very special young man. He's a mechanical genius, a dueling prodigy, and generally an exemplary human being. Tracking him down and joining forces with him could only be to our advantage."

"And this 'Yusei' has a criminal mark?" Andore clarified, now clearly intrigued.

"That he does, sonny!" Yanagi exclaimed. "Me and Jin here met him while we were all on the inside together…but don't get the wrong idea or anything! He only got sent in 'cause of some trumped up breaking-and-entering charges, and he got out in just a few days anyway."

"Still, the signal that marker sends out lasts for life," Kazama said knowledgably. "If you really want to find this guy, the data on that drive is definitely your best bet."

"What I wanna know is why every single freaking orphan that I knew as a kid seems to be getting so important!" shouted the blond boy as he finished checking off on Kazama's vitals, dramatically drawing everyone's attention. "I mean, first Jack is the big bad of everything, and now Yusei Fudo's our chosen hero guy? Who's next…Crow? Nerve? Blitz? _Taka?_"

"Hold on a second!" Andore cut in. "Yusei _Fudo_…are we talking about the same Yusei Fudo who won the Fortune Cup?"

"Well, it's not exactly that common of a name, is it?" Himuro quipped pointedly. "But yeah, that was him. Hell, the old man and I were even there in person."

"We…really need to exchange all of our information in a more organized way," Andore stated with a sigh. "At least now I know who you're all talking about, though."

"So it's definite, then? We're gonna track down the legendary Yusei Fudo?" Yoshizo asked giddily, his face already alight with that "I'm-gonna-get-an-awesome-autograph" glow.

"We'll discuss it at the meeting, once we get everyone together in a more formal setting than this makeshift hospital wing," Andore answered. "Leo, how long until Soichi will at least be able to move alright? I want to make sure he's available to provide information while we plan out our next course of action."

"Well, like I've told you before, I'm really not much of a doctor," the blond replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "But based on the readouts I'm getting, he should be back to basic mobility in about three hours or so…assuming he spends that whole time resting."

"Then it's decided," Andore announced with a grin. "Soichi, take a nap immediately; I want you at full strength tonight. And Stephanie, I want you to be his minder…stay with him and make sure he's sleeping, then help him get around as necessary once he wakes up." Stephanie nodded and made to salute her affirmation, before remembering that the redhead was not overly fond of that gesture and quickly lowering her arm. Andore rolled his eyes and finished, "The rest of you can disperse and get acclimated to the base until we call you back to the central chamber over the intercom."

Per their instructions all of the makeshift resistance members save for Kazama and Stephanie sifted out of the room, allowing the Security Officer to lie back down and slowly realize just how tired he still was. Yawning loudly as his eyes drooped and then closed altogether, Soichi Kazama vaguely felt the pleasant sensation of the young woman to his side clutching his hand as he slunk back into the deepest recesses of slumber.

[-]

"_Your posture is all wrong, Carly," the older woman advised kindly. "Here, watch me."_

_Her face tight in concentration, Misty Lola focused the Hellish powers of the Underworld that coursed through her undead veins and shot a concentrated beam of violet oblivion at a dilapidated wooden chair, disintegrating it completely. Carly Nagisa attempted in vain to mimic her mentor's actions, but the confident elegance with which she carried herself was still largely foreign to the former journalist, and consequently the energy simply refused to come forth when bidden, no matter how hard she strained herself._

_Misty, for her part, shook her head and smiled indulgently before taking hold of the younger woman's limbs and gently guiding them into the correct position. Carly flushed deeply at the closeness of the instructive embrace – or at least she would have, had she the blood necessary to do so – but yielded dutifully and allowed her body to be moved into a smoother, more confident arrangement. "Don't struggle to summon the energy," Misty told her. "Just open yourself up as a conduit, and your God will do the rest."_

_Taking this counsel to heart, Carly shifted her weight more naturally and then relaxed her stance, silently willing the dark power to flow from her unbeating heart and out into the open air. It took several pregnant moments, but eventually a sensation that was both comfortably warm and yet deathly cold began to travel down the gossamer strands of her unliving tissue, culminating in a small shower of purple sparks that danced from her fingertips._

_It wasn't much, but it was certainly a drastic improvement from the way her training session had been progressing so far; Misty, at least, certainly seemed to think so. "Carly, I knew you could do it!" she cried jovially, hugging the other girl tight. "A few more practices and you'll be blasting your foes to shreds in no time!"_

"_Th…thank you very much, Misty-san!" Carly stammered, smiling back. "You've really got a flair for teaching!"_

_At these words, however, an old sadness began to well up behind the lizard-wielder's empty corneas, and she bowed her head as thinly buried grief shot forth to the surface once more. "What's wrong, Misty-san?" Carly asked concernedly. "Did…did I upset you somehow?"_

"_It's nothing you should worry about, my dear Carly," Misty responded somberly. "It's only…I haven't had anyone to teach anything to in years. Not since…"_

_Misty shuddered and stopped talking here, but it wasn't hard for Carly to realize just what her fellow Dark Signer was alluding to. She had, after all, mentioned instructing Toby in matters such as cooking during the previous night's meeting, and this training session was probably setting off quite a few uncomfortably familiar bells within her ravaged psyche. Wordlessly the bearer of the hummingbird birthmark pulled the older woman back into an unyielding embrace, whispering as she did, "It's alright to cry with me, Misty. As much as you need to…"_

_And cry Misty Lola did, freely and unreservedly, never letting go of the surrogate sister who reminded her so vividly of the sibling she had already lost. Minutes passed in utter silence, punctuated by the occasional sob or sniffle, until finally Misty slowly released the younger girl and choked out, "Loath as I am to admit it…this is a good opportunity to show you another aspect of our powers."_

_The wielder of Jibakushin Ccarayhua then proceeded to the center of the room, her every step projecting the very essence of sorrow. Although there was no visible aura or some such crackling about her, Carly could detect vast quantities of pure, unrestrained energy emanating from Misty's position – so much so that every piece of furniture in the chamber was beginning to vibrate slightly. And then, without warning, all of that pent-up power travelled outward through Misty's outstretched palms, forming an enormous bolt of violet shadow that struck the opposite wall with unbelievable ferocity. Enormous quantities of dust immediately flew from the point of impact, and when the smoke eventually cleared a meter-wide crater had been gouged into the ancient stone._

"_The Earthbound Gods…they feed on personal pain," Misty explained numbly, her form rigid and detached. "It nourishes them, and allows them to provide you with incredible levels of power. That is why they focus so intently on selecting avatars who have felt the biting sting of loss. So if you ever find yourself outmatched in battle, as much as it hurts you will gain a boost from concentrating fully upon your grief and your anger. I recommend it only as a last resort, but there is no doubt that such a technique is effective."_

_The former model continued to weep silently as she stared at the depression she had forcibly made in the somber wall, but before Carly could move forward to comfort her further the door to their private training chamber creaked open. Turning her gaze low the former journalist observed a foot-tall spider crawling slowly into the room, gazing alternatively at the two female Dark Signers before making a "follow-me" motion with its left set of limbs. "Rudger must have engorged one of his arachnid servants," Misty said unemotionally. "I guess he wants to let you know that our time today is up."_

_Carly stared at the spider for a moment and then back at Misty, her tears still streaming mutely down her cold cheeks, before muttering, "Fuck it. I'm going to be here for you as long as you need me, Misty-san."_

_As she moved to tenderly hold the older woman once more, however, she found her movement impeded by the ebony spider, which had snagged her legs with some sort of webbing (fired, thankfully, from the mouth rather than from the anus). She attempted unsuccessfully to wrench herself free, but the irritating little bug merely shook its many-eyed head and gestured once more toward the door._

_Thinking back to the advice that Misty had just provided to her, Carly began to let her darkest emotions well up freely inside her very core. The anger was already taken care of by this idiotic little creature that was obstinately preventing her from giving comfort to the distraught woman across the room, but the grief…well, there was only one great source for that._

_Echoes filled Carly Nagisa's perpetually shadowed mind – echoes of a night of uninhibited freedom, brought on by her circle of high school girlfriends deciding that their dreary rural life should be spiced up with one wild trek into the nearby city. Dancing, drinking (the first and last time she had ever really indulged in alcohol), getting a little too close than was probably strictly necessary to some of the Neo Domino boys…after years upon years of mind-numbing doldrums, that single night of clubbing had been absolute bliss._

_And then, immediately following that, the echoes shifted to those of her anguished mother, howling in sorrow as she was informed that during her brief adventure in intemperance, her father had finally succumbed to the leukemia that had plagued him for so many years. And to make matters infinitely worse, not only had Keisuke Nagisa's only daughter been absent at his deathbed…but she had "borrowed" the family car in order to go off on her hedonistic outing, leaving her parents with no options for attaining medical attention once Keisuke had entered into cardiac arrest._

_Grief, heartache, guilt, self-hatred…all had coursed through Carly Nagisa's body in that moment, and for so many years since. And now their shadows – buried deep within but never truly forgotten, festering instead into a corrosive darkness of magnitude capable of attracting the attentions of a God – bubbled straight to the surface as Carly called them up as fuel for her wicked powers, until finally she focused all the pain they entailed into a single, concentrated beam and released it toward the stubborn arachnid, blowing it straight to smithereens._

_Misty stared back at the scene with amazement superimposed over her still-present sorrow, but Carly merely ran up to her mentor and tightly embraced her once more, both women holding each other firm as the tears of their tortured pasts flowed free and true._

[-]

Carly was crying when she awoke, which, given the subject matter of the dream she had just experienced, wasn't really much of a surprise. Thankfully, the moment she exited her repose she felt the pleasant sensation of her husband holding her hand and lightly stroking her brow, a majestic smile appearing across his lips as she lifted herself up.

"Did your slumber treat you well, my Dark Queen?" Jack asked gingerly.

Carly took a moment to ruminate over this, before realizing to her surprise that the bullet wound in her cranium had completely disappeared. Evidently, Aslla piscu had managed to make quick work once her continued consciousness had ceased to wear upon the Jibakushin's power. "I am fine, Jack," she answered, gently kissing his coarse knuckles. When his concerned stare did not abate, however, she appended, "I just had a…bad dream, that's all. Err…would it be alright if I spent a bit of time in Misty-san's memorial chamber?"

"Of course, Carly," Jack replied, seemingly somewhat surprised at being asked. "You are Queen here; you don't need to request permission to come and go as you please."

"I suppose that I'm simply not truly used to the privileges of royalty," Carly stated, wiping her eyes. "Very well, then. I shouldn't be more than an hour or two…but if that fool Garome returns in the interim, come and fetch me. Until that point, I suppose we have few active duties to fulfill in any event."

The couple shared another deep kiss before separating, Carly heading westward and Jack heading east, preoccupied with a matter that he was intending to sort out far above this place. But his wife had but one singular matter on her mind, and that was honoring the memory of the dearest friend she had ever made in either life or death.

The first thing that the Dark Queen did upon entering the hallowed sanctum was to generate a fresh new set of black-and-green flowers, arranged this time in a mournful wreath. The chamber possessed no headstone or anything of that sort, however, so Carly instead made due with placing the wreath around the neck of Toby Lola's beautiful statue like a Hawaiian lei; she figured that that would have made Misty happier, in any event.

The next half-hour passed in total silence, as Carly kneeled before a thread-accurate replica of the dress that Misty had worn as a Dark Signer and meditated, concentrating solely on the tremendous mentor, friend, and yes, sister that the wielder of the lizard birthmark had been to her in their final month together. From instructing her in the mystical arts to providing her with a good shoulder to cry on as she fortified herself for the fated duel against her lover, Misty had done absolutely everything for her…at least until she had been cut down so ignominiously two days prior.

One major consequence of channeling her fury and sorrow so frequently to fuel her powers was that Carly's negative emotions nearly always seemed to be bubbling just beneath the surface, ready to burst out in torrents at the slightest provocation. And indeed, out of seemingly nowhere an incredible hatred toward Aki Izayoi was now filling every fiber of Carly's being; it was perhaps only natural that in the absence of Divine, his greatest pupil would supplant him as the ultimate object of Carly's thirst for vengeance.

The Signer who had struck down her friend without a hint of remorse…who had murdered Toby Lola and who knew how many others thanks to her refusal to take responsibility for her incredible powers…yes, she would pay. Carly would carry on Misty's work and see to that.

It didn't hurt that Aslla piscu was certainly…encouraging this particular train of thought. The God was not overly fond of any of the Dark Signers apart from Its own, but if the fallen wench was to provide Its host with motivation to hunt down and exterminate the Signers that her fellows had categorically failed to eliminate, that was all the better.

Unaware that these thoughts were coursing through a portion of her mind that was not truly her own, Carly focused more intensely on the sins that Aki Izayoi had perpetuated and began to roughly formulate a strategy for taking on the young psychic – one that she would be sure to share with Jack once they were alone together once more.

[-]

Ostensibly, the Classy Ass was a flower shop and nothing more. It was a fairly open secret across Crash Town, however, that if one required illicit substances, weapons, or even "services," one need only venture into the backroom and ask for Barbara Vasquez.

So when Lotten Rojas returned from a few months' gallivanting across the countryside and slipped into the rear chamber unbidden, Barbara had very few imaginations over what exactly he was hoping to attain. A few bottles of quality whiskey, a look at whatever new rifles and shotguns she had managed to get smuggled out of the city, and to top it all off a good couple hours of…fun, and the handsome Spaniard would be satisfied. The simplicity of their transactions was what made Lotten easily one of her favorite customers; plus, it didn't hurt that he was a pretty damn great fuck.

"The usual, Lotten?" she asked sensuously, already pulling out a crisp bottle of Bourbon from her informal liquor cabinet.

"Gracias, la niña," he replied sultrily, kicking off his boots and settling into an over-worn chair.

"What brings you back to Crash Town, incidentally?" she inquired as she poured him a shot, which he tossed back with practiced vigor.

Shuddering slightly at the sudden intake of hard alcohol before shrugging and accepting another glass, he answered calmly, "Oh, you know. Malcolm can't seem to run this fucking operation without bringing me in every couple of month's to keep things organized. He seems to have this idea stuck in his head that Ramon is gonna suddenly pop up some golden boy from outta nowhere and wipe the floor with our gang one of these days. I mean, there's paranoid and then there's _paranoid_, am I right?"

"Your brother's a real head case, I'll give you that," Barbara agreed readily, indulging in a few glasses of the whiskey herself. "And ugly as a damn pig to boot. I have to take an hour-long shower after screwing him just to feel remotely sexy again."

"Well, I can do something about that, señorita," he declared with a suggestive smirk, producing a few ten-thousand-yen bills and pressing them firmly into the woman's waiting palm. Before he could begin to shimmy his pants off to enjoy the fruits of his purchase, however, the door to the backroom was wrenched from its hinges with an earthshaking bang, and three strangers of vastly varying statures strode into the dark chamber.

"What a Scheißeloch," commented the middle figure sardonically. "I'm definitely understanding why you decided to do some window-shopping in _here_, Reaper."

"That…him?" questioned another one of the men – a lumbering, trench coat-adorned giant – as he pointed one of his massive fingers toward Lotten. "The one…we…after?"

The last stranger, who was quite short and covered head-to-toe with a massive black cloak, merely nodded in agreement and stretched his palm outward, causing Barbara and Lotten to fly back into the opposite wall and land together in a muddled heap. The figure wasted no time in swiftly gliding up to their position and stabbing Lotten with what appeared to be a small feather, removing his mind from the mortal plane and beginning to converse with it directly.

_You are Lotten Rojas. Your crimes against your fellow man have exceeded many who have been executed at the hands of war crimes tribunals, and yet you remain utterly remorseless for your myriad sins. Capturing hundreds of innocent souls for slave labor, torturing and slaughtering them without a second thought…even your own brother has not been spared your cruelty, forced to manage the gritty minutiae of your abhorrent scheme while you reap the benefits._

_Thanks to you, a town that was once filled with peace has now been overrun with the very essence of death. This impresses me._

_But you could have far greater power than the dregs of glory you enjoy here. My Master can offer you wonders the likes of which you can barely conceive – he can allow you to spread your visions of malice far beyond this worthless little town, and exact your own brand of justice upon the whole legion of his enemies. You need do nothing more than swear undying fealty to him, and the Dark King shall grant…_

"No," Lotten murmured, weakly but with conviction.

_What?_

"I've seen…this kinda movie before…hombre," he continued to drunkenly slur, great effort going into each movement of his lips. "Ya come…in here…lookin' like fucking Death…to try an' make me…a deal…with the fucking Devil? Gimme power…take away my soul…ain't worth it. So ain't…fucking worth it. Not gonna…not gonna…happen. So…so piss off…amigo."

_You dare to speak to me with such impudence? I am the vanguard of the Dark King; a slight upon me is a slight upon his most venerated self!_

"Then…he can piss off…too…" Lotten mumbled defiantly, vainly attempting to raise up his arms and sucker punch the Reaper. Unfortunately, his entire body currently felt like concrete, likely because of that fucking black feather stuck straight in his chest. And plus there was this sudden sensation of lightheadedness…and compression around his lungs…and pain…so much fucking pain…

It was a few moments before Lotten managed to force his eyelids open, allowing him to observe the clear culprit for all of the new sensations he was now experiencing: Barbara Vasquez, who currently had her trademark leather whip wrapped tightly around his throat.

Lotten tried and tried to struggle against the sinister woman's iron grip, but it was no use; the plume piercing his skin was rendering him trapped within his own immobile body. Unable to move anything else, his lips flapped around for a moment until they were able to frame the word, "Why…?"

"Because I know a good opportunity when I hear it, _señor_," she returned mockingly, and those were the last words that Lotten Rojas heard before his mind slipped into total darkness.

"Now…what was this thing about 'great power'?" she asked, nonchalantly releasing the neck of Lotten's corpse and letting him fall to the side.

_You could hear my words? But…ah, I see. You were in direct contact with his body, so my whispers passed through his broken soul and into yours. Your ingenuity and your sheer gall…this impresses me as well._

_Am I to understand, then, that you are offering up yourself for the same bargain I extended to the man you have just murdered in cold blood?_

"Hey, why not? I've got nothing to lose…and this sounds to me like a good chance for some real _thrills_," she said with an alluring wink, causing Nicolas Verbrechen to howl with laughter.

"Verdammt, I like this bitch!" the half-German exclaimed gleefully. "She's got my vote!"

_Very well. I shall now test the worth of the darkness within your heart._

And without any further delay, the Reaper extracted his Master's feather from Lotten's cold cadaver and tossed him roughly aside, plunging it deep into Barbara's ample bosom instead. The Hispanic woman arched back in response, an expression of ecstasy spreading across her tender features. "Dios mío…" she whispered blissfully as the man that was once Matsuki Garome placed a broad palm to her forehead.

_You are Barbara Vasquez. I need not search far for the darkness that I seek; the cold depravity that permeates your very essence is more than apparent. You are a woman to whom "loyalty" has no meaning, having never known true love or affection from any person you have ever met in this oppressive town of death. Instead you were taught from birth that your only worth lay in your very body…and you have lived your entire life according to this principle._

_Human interaction is nothing more than a business transaction for you…leaving you ideally placed to depart from this mortal plane and give your talents full reign under the command of my Master. Would you swear undying fealty to him, in exchange for all the power that your sinful desires could ever possibly hope to attain?_

"Si…" Barbara murmured, her eyes shining with reverence.

_Then rise. Rise again, Barbara Vasquez._

[-]

"No…" Yusei Fudo muttered numbly, unable to believe his eyes even as they involuntarily filled with stinging tears.

Neo Domino City was burning. The towering skyscrapers and expansive high-rises that had always stood majestically upon the distant horizon in his youth had been leveled in all directions, wild flames spreading across the collapsed debris as if taunting the Signer leader with their destructive luster. Streets were cracked in two, enormous craters littered the cityscape, and perhaps most disturbingly, mile-wide globs of what appeared to be blackish goo were spread across the entire expanse. Even the sky appeared to have taken on something of a reddish tinge in the oppressive midday glow, marking a disaster scene that was most certainly _not_ natural.

And it was with regard to this notion that Yusei was now internally sweating bullets, for this level of devastation, so far as he was aware, matched only one possible culprit…

"Mon Dieu…" Sherry whispered, her face similarly pressed up against the glass of the helicopter windows. Yusei noticed that her trademark snark was completely absent from this oath; evidently, sheer horror was driving it out. "What…what happened here?"

"I'm not quite sure," Yusei told his companions hollowly, "but I'd wager my D-Wheel that it's the work of the King of the Underworld."

"The King of the Underworld…master of the Earthbound Gods?" Mizoguchi recalled out-loud. "But I thought you said you sealed it from emerging into the physical realm."

"I thought we did!" Yusei responded distraughtly, shaking his head in frustration. "But I can't think of anything else that could have possibly done something like this in such a short space of time…and plus, Jack's leading their side now. He's the single greatest strategist I've ever met in my life, not to mention the most stubborn. There's no telling what he can pull off now that he has the Jibakushin's limitless resources behind him."

"That's…disheartening," Mizoguchi replied with a shake of his head. "But I suppose no one ever claimed that this job would be easy." The stoic butler paused for a few moments before switching the subject. "Now, where exactly would you like me to land?"

"Our current headquarters is an orphanage in the Satellite, located right over by the eastern shoreline," Yusei explained, gesturing toward the similarly ravaged island and praying silently that his friends had survived this unbelievable onslaught.

About ten minutes later the helicopter landed relatively smoothly at the position Yusei had indicated, the teenaged Signer immediately leaping from the vehicle and sprinting over to the building's cheap wooden door. Rapping upon it furiously, however, caused it to creakily swing open, and it took but one glance at the dark and noiseless hallway (something that was obliquely alien for a place that housed small children) to inform Yusei that the orphanage was now utterly devoid of life. This presented both good news and bad news.

The good news was that the wide-area destruction that the King of the Underworld appeared to favor had not affected this piece of land…or any in the surrounding district, for that matter. All signs seemed to indicate that the inhabitants had fled voluntarily, and as such that they were still, for the most part at least, alive.

The bad news was that he had no freaking clue where they would have escaped to.

"Not so much luck?" Sherry remarked softly, placing a hand on Yusei's shoulder. "Well what now, monsieur?"

"I…err…" Yusei began uncertainly, wracking his brain for possible hiding places that Martha could have conceivably selected in a time of crisis. That thought was cut decidedly short, however, by the distinct sound of hundreds of approaching footsteps…and a good deal of moaning.

Simultaneously all three of the gathered allies turned their heads to the opposite horizon, and Yusei gulped in both fear and revulsion as an armada of what appeared to be moving corpses shuffled slowly toward their location. The figures vaguely reminded the young Signer of the murderous ghosts of Zero Reverse…and considering how _that_ particular encounter had turned out, this factor wasn't exactly improving his outlook on the situation.

"_Merde_…" Sherry gasped, and Yusei did not require a translation to know that he shared her sentiment completely.

[-]

"Are we there _yet_?" whined Brave Gosforth, grinning and pumping his legs back-and-forth in mock impatience.

"No matter how many times you tell that infantile little joke, it still doesn't get any funnier," Dragan Thorwald replied wearily, clutching his temples. "Though I do agree that we've been seeing altogether too much ocean lately. Harald, did we _really_ have to fly _westward_ to get to Japan? Seems like it would have been a Helluva lot more efficient to just go over Eurasia instead."

"Only if you doubt the wisdom of the Gods…and by this point, I would think you would at least know better than _that_," Harald Ledberg retorted, his expression even as he activated his Rune Eye and scanned the immediate horizon, as he had been careful to do at regular intervals throughout their flight. "Odin was quite explicit on this point…we _must_ intercept the King of the Underworld before it can manage to make its way across the Atlantic."

"Guess good ol' America gets the short end of the stick then, eh?" Brave jibed playfully, before his expression turned somber. "How far do you think this thing will go with its whole 'kill all humans' bit?" he asked, almost pleadingly. "I mean, my kids…they're in Anguilla. Too…too small a target, right?"

"The Gods only know," Harald responded coolly. "Perhaps this demon shall concentrate solely on the most populous of cities, or perhaps it shall systematically wipe out all signs of life within each hemisphere that it enters. Odin did not tell me much about its particular tactics, other than to warn me that the King is _unbelievably_ powerful. It's not going to be easy to trifle with, and any that stand in its way without a God by their side shall invariably perish. If those children you support happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time during the next twenty-four hours, then there's simply nothing we can do for them."

Brave appeared quite stung by this comment, causing him to reproach his teammate with a dismayed, "Be _colder_," and return to his seat to sulk pensively.

Dragan merely grunted in exasperation. "Herre gud, I don't get that guy. He's got the blackest sense of humor of any guy I've ever met, but the moment the subject switches to those kids of his he becomes an oversensitive prick," the tanned Norwegian stated pointedly.

"Hey, I can hear you just fine!" Brave shouted in offense, his eyes not wavering from the window.

"Good, because you need to start putting this whole thing into fucking perspective," Dragan yelled shortly, grabbing Brave's collar and forcing him to face forward. "We're dealing with a monster that's trying to end _all life on Earth_. We can't afford to keep getting sidetracked by some…some snot-nosed brats you left stranded in some backwater speck in the Caribbean!"

Brave responded to this rebuke with a sharp fist to Dragan's face, slamming the wielder of Polar God Thor against the private jet's walls. "Yeah, I'll acknowledge that I'm a grade-A ass ninety-percent of the time," he declared, cracking his knuckles. "But don't you _ever_ let me catch you talking shit about my kids ever again, got it? Taking care of those guys is the one thing in my life that makes me feel like more than a useless sack of crap, so don't you fucking dare ask me to give up on them! Maybe if _you_ actually had something you cared about like that, you'd understand."

"I _do_ have something I care about," Dragan insisted defiantly, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth. "And that's beating Jack Atlas to a pasty little pulp. That so-called 'King' humiliated me before the entire world…just so he could maintain his joke of a title. The only thing that's important to me here is getting to Japan and taking him out, now that he's become arrogant enough to fashion himself a _real_ monarch."

"So that's all this mission is to you…revenge?" Brave cried, clearly incensed. "And you accuse _me_ of being 'sidetracked'?"

"At least my agenda will actually solve the problem and save countless lives…including those orphans you keep rattling on about," Dragan protested scathingly. "Unlike you, who are just focusing on a handful of trivial children at the expense of everyone else on the planet."

Again Brave made to reply to this with his fists, but Dragan was prepared this time; as his Rune Eye activated one of his palms immediately shot upward and caught Brave's punch, socking the redhead back in the gut as he did. Brave formed his own runic sign within his cornea and prepared to strike back, but before the brawl could escalate any further Harald was between them, the final Rune Eye burning fiercely within his skull.

"_Enough_," he shouted commandingly, and both of his fellow teammates dropped their fists immediately. "I was under the impression that I recruited warriors for this undertaking, not squabbling children. Both of you have a point in this argument – Brave, you need to adjust to a better sense of scope and Dragan, you need to ensure that your anger toward Jack Atlas does not cloud your judgment – but we're all on the same side here for the most part, so I must ask that you both calm down and _focus_ on the mission."

"But…" Brave began, but Harald cut him off.

"If it means that much to you, Brave, we can check in on Anguilla once we arrive in the Americas," the silver-haired team leader consented. "But our first priority is confronting the King of the Underworld on the way there, and that's not changing. The most you can do is pray to the Gods for their safety until then."

Brave swallowed hard before shaking his head and muttering, "Fine…I guess I can go along with that. Just…don't bother me until you sense that thing approaching, alright?"

And with that, the perpetual trickster returned to his seat and extracted the gleaming piece of cardboard that housed the very essence of the Polar God Loki, holding it close to his heart and reciting a beseeching chant in soft Norwegian.

"I have a question," Dragan asserted after a few pregnant moments had passed. "How do you know that the King of the Underworld is even going to come anywhere near us? The Atlantic Ocean isn't exactly a small target."

"Well, for one thing, Odin prophesized it," Harald elucidated. "And ever since the Lord of the Æsir traded his eye to Mimir for the gift of enlightenment, his wisdom has been second-to-none…not even among fellow Gods. But more to the point, Odin has recently allowed me to supercharge the Duel Energy signature given off by the Polar Gods when their cardboard vessels are in close proximity. He informs me that the King of the Underworld shall find the allure of that signature utterly irresistible, and once no greater targets in America remain it shall be drawn inexplicably to our plane's location."

"And then…?" Dragan questioned.

"And then we shall put an end to the existence of this perverted abomination, once and for all," Harald announced vigorously. "And the sins of Momentum shall finally be put to eternal rest."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that," said Dragan. "Do you really think that this whole Dark King business that Team Unicorn was talking about _really_ has something to do with Yliaster?"

"I'm absolutely certain of it," Harald responded. "For one thing, these blights upon the face of the Earth that dare to call themselves 'Gods' originate from the land of the People of the Stars…just as the first ranks of Yliaster did. And moreover, it was Takashi Fudo's foolhardy Momentum experiments that awakened these unholy creatures into the modern world – experiments that, need I remind you, were funded directly by the Yliaster puppets in charge of KaibaCorp. The fact that the Earth teeters dangerously close to the Twilight of the Gods is entirely thanks to the devils and the patsies that claim to serve the Crimson Star, and if we are to singlehandedly avert the onset of Fimbulvinter then we need to act fast in ending them _all_."

"Wait…are you saying what I think you're saying?" Brave popped back in, stunned by the silver-haired duelist's sudden intensity.

"Indeed," Harald answered gravely. "Though I had extremely weighty doubts about the trustworthiness of Yusei Fudo, given how instrumental his father was in the world's near-destruction in the first place, I have been keeping close tabs on the Signers in general since most of them were revealed at the Fortune Cup, in hopes that we might someday ally against our common foes. But the conversion of Jack Atlas into an emissary of death has convinced me once and for all that those who bear the signs of the Incan Gods are inherently part of the problem…never the solution. And so, as the chosen avatars of the most supreme Gods in this world or the next, it is our solemn duty to eliminate all traces of the legacies of the Akaki Ryu and the Jibakushin alike…and the Gods themselves, if we find the opportunity.

"It pains me to say this," he finished, "but in all my consultations with the pantheon of the Æsir I have come to one, inescapable conclusion: for the Earth to live, every single Signer and Dark Signer that traverses its lands…must die."

And those were the last words that any of the members of Team Ragnarök felt like uttering for several hours.

[-]

_Reawaken the rose and strangle the weed._

_The entrance to the Underworld is on the witch's island._

_Mine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory._

_This mighty body is my church, and may all be one within its walls._

_In the fullness of time, all shall rise again._

_You are nothing._

The seemingly limitless multitude of commands that Divine had implanted deep into her subconscious psyche shot forth across Aki's mind like sharp daggers, tearing at every remaining thread of her will and composure as she assaulted a punching bag with ever-increasing brutality.

The sand-filled sack was, she took a moment to reflect, an entirely strange tool to be using in assistance to meditation. At first she had thought to use something like a treadmill or a stationary bicycle in order to keep her body in constant, repeated motion as she delved deep into the darkest recesses of her own mind, but a sensation that was almost primal had driven her inexplicably toward the gym's sole boxing prop instead. There was a visceral pleasure in simply wailing upon a victim that felt no pain, letting loose the physical ferocity that befit the Black Rose Witch in a way that prevented innocents from suffering for her fury. And indeed, deep gashes along the surface of the crimson sack indicated that this comparison was not altogether metaphorical; the process of releasing her own psychological tortures into the ambient air was causing her psychic powers to abet her unpracticed punches in a rather chaotic manner.

This was partly, she knew, because her powers thrived on the presence of anger, and she certainly had enough of _that_ to go around. With every passing piece of her soul that she laid bare for her mind's eye to peruse at will it seemed that some new hidden command programmed in by Divine who-knows-how-long-ago was ready to surface…some incredibly wordy and impossible to come up in casual conversation, but others fairly short and relatively innocuous compared to the typical speech of her former mentor.

Each code phrase appeared designed to provide subtly differing changes in Aki's personality and personal drive, but one factor remained constant throughout each of the triggers; a total, slavish subservience to Divine's every order. And worse yet, despite her best efforts even the weakest of the psychically applied triggers was proving absolutely impossible to break; in terms of raw psychic potential she supposed that she probably surpassed Divine years ago, but his practical knowledge still outranked hers by a fair margin. Try as she might, she simply didn't have the training to purge these disgusting commands completely…the best she could really do was recognize them for what they were and attempt to minimize their effects if activated by sheer force of will.

Unable to bottle it all in any longer, Aki Izayoi let loose a guttural scream and applied one final strike to the punching bag, her pent-up frustration and anguish manifesting into an enormous burst of psychic energy that lifted the sack straight off its hinges and sent it flying into the opposite wall, where it burst open and fell to the floor in mutilated tatters.

"That…felt good…" she breathed. And indeed it had; much to her own surprise, there had been an undeniable thrill racing down her spine as she engaged in the physical discipline involved in tearing apart the immobile sandbag…one which a part of her was keen to relive.

Perhaps she would return to this abandoned gymnasium a little more often.

[-]

By his own inexpert estimation, the Reaper's mission was going well. True, there was really no way for him to know for certain if the followers he had gathered so far would please his Master, inferior as his brainpower was compared to the Dark King's, but Nicolas Verbrechen had proven himself well in response to his particular trial by fire and Barbara Vasquez, while not being the Reaper's initial choice, nonetheless appeared to be even more unashamedly sinister than the man whose dark heart had drawn him to Crash Town in the first place. And as for the Player Killer of Darkness…well, the Reaper really couldn't envision any possible objections to _that_ selection, given the depraved history that he had read within the mortal monster's shattered soul.

For his part, the only thing that was particularly bothering the Reaper about the individuals he had so far ordained with the hallowed plumes of his Master was the obnoxiously blatant "flirting" that Nicolas Verbrechen and Barbara Vasquez were currently engaged in. At least it was quite clear that their sexually charged conversation was based far more in primal lust than genuine human affection; the Reaper at very least _understood_ the concept of lust, even if he no longer partook in it. So far as he was concerned, all devotion of the mind, body, and soul should be relegated solely to his Master…and his Master's mate Carly Nagisa, by extension.

In any event, however, the thing that was occupying the Reaper's enlightened mind at that particular moment was not his two most recent companions' rather vivid descriptions of what they planned to do to one another once they returned to the Dark King's palace, nor the Player Killer of Darkness' disjointed grunts of confusion as he tried and failed to follow their conversation…but the infiltration of his latest target. Unlike an abandoned warehouse in the Satellite or a seedy backroom in a poor town located in the middle of nowhere, the mental hospital in which his next prospective acquisition was sheltered had fairly sophisticated security, and it was taking most of the limited energy reserves with which the Reaper had been bestowed in order for him to cloak their party as they stormed through the sterile halls.

Still, the masking spell appeared to be doing its job quite sufficiently – no one was bothering the quartet, at any rate, no matter how loudly Nicolas Verbrechen and Barbara Vasquez chattered on – and so it was only a matter of minutes before the group was pushing open an unassuming metal door clearly labeled "Adler Frank."

Being prostrated across a medical bed and fully asleep, Professor Frank Adler did not react noticeably as the small group approached him, but that changed quite swiftly once the ebony quill pierced his heart, as the pain roused him immediately and resulted in a massive spasm punctuated by shrill, maniacal laughter. Fortunately the Player Killer of Darkness managed to hold him down long enough for the feather's magicks to spread and lock his slender form into total paralysis, allowing the Reaper to approach his newest potential recruit and lay one of his broad hands across the man's chest.

_You are Professor Frank Adler. It is saddening see one of the world's greatest minds in the field of psychology reduced to this insane shell…all thanks to that meddling little girl at the Fortune Cup. Oh yes, I can sense it quite clearly – your brief sojourn into the Duel Monsters Spirit World represented the culmination of your entire life's work, the proof to all who ever scorned or derided you that your hypotheses about the cosmology of the Universe were entirely accurate. And yet, at the cusp of your victory the Signer Ruka wrenched you violently from that otherworldly dimension, and left you utterly broken for the experience._

_But even as your shattered mind struggles even to maintain a grasp on the very fabric of reality, you have still not given up in your ambition to truly understand the spiritual plane that exists beyond us…and if possible, to exact lethal revenge upon the young Signer for ripping away your first opportunity to do so. This impresses me._

_You languish here, Professor Frank Adler, in a state of ignominy unbefitting of your position and your skills. But my Master can help with that…he can restore the shards of your splintered psyche so that it may pierce and dominate the minds of mortal men once more. Would you swear undying fealty to him, in return for that power?_

"Heh…" was Professor Frank's sole response, whispered breathlessly as his entire body struggled to convulse. "Heh…heh heh…heh heh heh heh! _Hah hah hah hah hah!_"

"I don't think this is gonna work, Herr Reaper," Nicolas stated pointedly. "There ain't enough mind _left_ here to put back together, even for the Dark King."

"_Blasphemy!_" Player Killer cried, striking Nicolas across the face. "Master can…do anything!"

Nicolas Verbrechen was sent reeling by the strike, collapsing against an I.V. rack and accidentally wrenching several of the liquid-supplying tubes from the veins in Professor Frank's skin. The additional stress this placed on the mad psychoanalyst caused him to shake and sputter further as his laughter reached a crescendo, bits of foam flying from his mouth until the feather's glow pulsed and he lay quite still.

Several moments passed in total silence, until finally a small voice began muttering, "Not gonna let it happen again…won't happen again…different this time…_different_ this time…"

"The Hell…?" Barbara wondered aloud as she bent over to help Nicolas back up.

"Pulling out those tubes must've jolted his system or something," the half-German guessed. "That, or something _majorly_ fucked up must've been getting pumped through 'em."

The assembled minions were spared any further surmising, however, by Professor Frank's eyes suddenly shooting open and his mouth stretching into a Hellish grin. Before long the crazed man was shouting at the top of his lungs, "They thought they could keep me here forever…thought that I knew too much! Well I'll show them…and that fucking little bitch most of all! I'll kill them…kill them…_kill them!_"

Following these pronouncements Professor Frank began panting heavily, mastering his voice as it periodically erupted into a low refrain of his earlier insane mirth. Finally however he managed to regain control of his breath, allowing him to mumble, "Yes…if your Master can provide me the opportunity to exact my vengeance, I shall walk to the ends of the fucking Earth for him."

And that was all the Reaper needed to place his demonic hand once more atop the psychologist's chest and recite the mantra that would cement his conversion to the side of the Dark King…

_Then rise. Rise again, Professor Frank Adler._

[-]

"Alright…everyone's here, right?" Jean Aramis asked to the room at-large.

"Yeah…looks like it," Andore Porthos answered, scanning across the informal conference table. "Let's go around and give introductions so that we're all familiar with each other, though. Name and profession should suffice."

"I am Jean Aramis, then," Jean responded, nonverbally indicating that the rotation should proceed clockwise around the table. "Professional duelist and head of Team Unicorn."

"Breo Athos," Breo said calmly. "Professional duelist and another member of Team Unicorn."

"Andore Porthos," Andore added with a smirk. "Professional duelist and the last member of Team Unicorn…and model, if you count that one issue of _Playduelist_ last September."

"Err…Leo Laruto?" stated Leo awkwardly, clearly thrown off-balance by that last comment. "I'm…uh…a mechanic. Specialty is clocks and other timepieces."

"Jin Himuro," announced Jin, shaking his head. "Formerly a professional duelist, but now…err, permanently retired."

"Tenzen Yanagi, sonnies!" Yanagi shouted enthusiastically. "Archaeologist and discoverer of ancient antiquities the world over!"

"Hideo Izayoi," Hideo declared gruffly. "Senator of Neo Domino City…but I suppose with the local government now in shambles, I'm merely a financial benefactor at this point."

"Setsuko I…Izayoi," his wife stuttered. "I'm…well, mostly the same thing, really."

"Taro Yamashita," Taro pronounced confidently. "Duelist and…um, farmhand, I guess?"

"Yoshizo Hayashi!" his friend cried after a few beats of silence, in response to getting elbowed in the side by Jinbei. "D…ditto!"

"Jinbei Tanigawa," Jinbei followed up disinterestedly. "Likewise."

"Soichi Kazama," Kazama breathed pleasantly, though the pain that shot through his arm as he tried to straighten his posture caused him to shudder immediately afterward. With Stephanie's help he managed to sit up and add, "Security Officer under the Special Investigations division."

"Stephanie Bloomsdale," Stephanie finished, coughing uneasily. "I'm…um…a waitress. At the Café la Geen."

Both Jean and Breo cast simultaneous sideways glances at Andore at this assertion, but the easygoing redhead remained unfazed, saying simply, "Stephanie, how about you show everyone here your secret weapon?"

"Oh, alright then!" the brunette exclaimed cheerily, her mood immediately brightening as she dashed out of the room, emerging a few moments later with a tray laden with small coffee cups (decorated with the images of unicorns, naturally) and a large carafe of _Blue-Eyes Mountain_. "Hope you all enjoy my house specialty!" she stated warmly, serving each of the gathered resistance members a generous helping of the steaming liquid.

…Ten seconds later the room was abuzz with praise and admonition over the immeasurable quality of the smooth beverage, culminating in Yanagi earnestly crying out, "_Please_ tell me this young miss is gonna be in charge of the cooking here, sonnies!"

Laughter, but also a fair bit of serious interest in the notion, emanated from the assembled group. "I guess the committee has spoken," Andore guffawed. "Welcome to head chef duties, honey."

Stephanie appeared too happy at providing a genuinely useful service to their cause to be embarrassed, merely bowing humbly and returning to her seat. Once the reaction to the surprisingly spectacular coffee died down sufficiently, however, Jean moved on to a completely different subject.

"Now that everyone is generally acquainted, our first order of business is going to be comparing notes," he opened, ostentatiously activating a large screen behind him. "This is a little slideshow that Breo and Leo recently put together, and it should hopefully explain everything that's going on here for those of you who might be a little out of the loop. Breo, you wanna take the floor?"

"Uh…sure," the blond responded, and at his signal Leo pressed a switch on a remote control, causing the screen to display several promotional photographs of Jack Atlas. "For better or for worse, this is the man that is behind everything that has been going on with Neo Domino City lately. His name is Jack Atlas, a former Japanese pro duelist, but nowadays he instead goes by the moniker of the 'Dark King.' Very little is known of his past – the only biography of his in existence, a film called _Road of the King_, is notoriously inaccurate – and even less is known of whatever has happened to change him into a world-conquering dictator. I'm hoping that Leo, Jin, and Tenzen might be able to shed some light on those particular issues, actually."

"You want me to talk about Jack as a kid?" Leo echoed confusedly, to which Breo nodded. The freckled youth chuckled awkwardly and explained, "Well, I can't really say much, since I haven't seen him since he was like, five or something…and I never interacted with him one-on-one much or anything. He was always really stoic and standoffish – way more serious than any boy his age should've been. Honestly, I think I only ever saw him talking directly with three people in the orphanage in Satellite where I met him: the caretaker of the children there – my Auntie Martha – and a couple of younger kids named Yusei and Crow. From what I've heard before the meeting it sounds like Yusei's pretty damn important to this whole mess too, but I'll let someone else explain that one."

As the nose ring-adorned blond said all of this in the course of about three breaths, his entire audience ended up staring at him with identical states of utter bewilderment. Scratching his head and grinning uncomfortably, he attempted to summarize, "Well, I guess my point is that Jack never seemed like the type to do this sorta thing when I knew him. I'm thinking that whatever's come over Jack, it's gotta be fairly recent."

"We're thinking along the same lines," Jin Himuro interjected, crossing his arms and bowing his head knowledgeably. "I used to really hate Jack…when I was on top of the professional dueling circuit he was the one who broke my win-record, and that eventually led to me falling into the underground and getting arrested by Security. But after a year or so in prison I met up with Yusei Fudo – like Leo said, he was an old friend of Jack's, and he had escaped from Satellite in order to take the 'King' down and make him get his head on straight."

"And that was why he entered the Fortune Cup?" Jean surmised.

"Well, sort of," Himuro clarified. "What ended up happening was that Director Goodwin, of all people, took a big interest in Yusei after he defeated our corrupt warden in a duel, and released him specifically so that he could fight in the tournament. Not that he gave him much of a choice in the matter – according to what Yusei told us, that rat-bastard Goodwin kidnapped his friends from Satellite and used their safety to blackmail him into entering. The old man and I were let out as well because of our connection with Yusei, so we were there when he shocked the world by coming from behind and defeating Jack once and for all."

"Our daughter Aki was present at the Cup as well, as the semi-finalist," Hideo offered, hanging his head slightly. "It was the first the public had seen of her in years, ever since she ran off to join that Arcadia Movement thanks to some…mistakes on my part."

"Oh, trust me, we're getting to _them_," Jin responded bitterly. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah, 'cause this is the perfect time to talk all about the Signers!" Yanagi yelped, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen from seemingly out of nowhere and sketching a rough approximation of a Quechan hieroglyph. "See here sonnies; this is a representation of the Crimson Dragon, a God that watched over an ancient Incan civilization several millennia ago. In order to carry on its work in the mortal world, though, it bestows its power on a select five individuals in each passing generation. Those chosen few – the Signers – bear the marks of the Akaki Ryu's sacred body, split amongst five pieces…the head, tail, wings, front claw, and rear claw."

The aged archaeologist drew lines segregating the respective body parts in order to emphasize his point, holding up the amateurish picture for all to see before continuing, "There's no doubt in my mind that Director Goodwin put together that whole Fortune Cup shebang so that he could gather up all of this generation's Signers, since they were all participating. First there's Yusei, who has the tail mark, plus Jack himself, who I'm pretty sure has the wings. Then we've got Aki-san, who has one of the claws, and a cute little girl from Tops named Ruka-chan, who has the other one. Only the head's still unaccounted for, so far as I'm aware. But the Crimson Dragon itself showed up when Yusei and Jack clashed in the finals, so the last Signer must've been around there _somewhere_."

"Err…right," Himuro said, placing a patient but firm hand upon his elder friend's shoulder, as he was beginning to quite literally bounce around in excitement. "After the Fortune Cup was when things started to get _really_ fucked up, though. Yusei got attacked by a guy who said he was representing the Signers' opposite numbers, the _Dark_ Signers…and soon enough they were everywhere, brainwashing hundreds of people in the Satellite to hate the Crimson Dragon and worship their evil Gods instead. I never really saw any of them up-close, but according to Yusei they're a bunch of tragic individuals who were killed and then revived by the wicked Jibakushin solely to battle the Signers and plunge the world into eternal darkness."

"So where does Jack fit into all of this?" Kazama asked with a pained grimace.

"Well see, the two of us were staying with Ruka and her twin brother Rua immediately after Yusei returned to the Satellite so that he could investigate what the Dark Signers were up to," Jin went on. "Since we had nothing better to do, we all decided to try and gather more of the Signers together, so that we could stand better against their evil counterparts. Our first stop was to the Arcadia Movement in order to try and bring Aki-san around, but the motherfucker in charge of the organization, a real slime named Divine, decided to drug and imprison us instead. Ironically, the only reason we got out was that a couple of Dark Signers attacked the building a little while later…and that's when we met up with Jack. I guess he must've been tracking down the Dark Signers himself, but in any event he showed up in the nick of time and saved Aki-san from the rubble. That was the moment when I let go of my hatred and gave Jack a little bit of my respect."

"So then…what happened to him?" Setsuko asked worriedly. She remembered Jack Atlas; he had been the one who had advised them to find Yusei when Aki had been in that coma, a stratagem that had ended up working wonders. To learn that he was also the one who had rescued her poor daughter from certain death, and yet was also the cruel enemy against whom they were now fighting…it simply didn't add up.

"I'm not sure," Himuro answered solemnly, his chin hanging low. "The last we saw of them, the four known Signers were united and flying off to the Satellite to take down the Dark Signers once and for all. I suppose my best guess…is that somehow, Jack ended up getting turned into a Dark Signer himself. From what Yusei described to us, none of the Dark Signers were truly evil before they got resurrected; the Earthbound Gods twist the pains and emotions of humans in order to turn them into willing servants. I guess not even the legendary Jack Atlas was immune to their control."

"…Well, _that_ explains a lot," Jean stated after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "But while we now have a reason for Jack Atlas' sudden personality-180°, it brings us no closer to bringing him down. So let's analyze what this 'Dark King' now has at his disposal, alright?"

"Err, okay," Breo replied, signaling to Leo to move on with the slideshow. Several crude drawings of various creatures appeared on the screen. "So far as we've seen, Jack has three main components to his forces. First are these birdlike monsters, which continue to patrol the skies as we speak. They're small but incredibly dangerous, moving in swarms and striking without warning. This owes mainly to their ability to cloak themselves from indirect sight; only when they are being stared at head-on are they even visible."

"And they always go straight for the throat or the stomach," Leo added with a shudder. "Those things are efficient killers, I'll give 'em that."

"Right…" Breo reacted, shivering as well. "Anyway, the second set of creatures in Jack's service are these walking corpses. They're currently running around the streets of both Neo Domino and the Satellite in droves, ripping apart any living humans they find with extreme prejudice. They ask no questions, listen to no explanations – Hell, I'm not even sure they speak or understand human speech at all…they just kill. They and the birds both appear to be vulnerable to jolts of electricity, at least…"

"As well as good old-fashioned beatings," Taro appended, catching a fist in his palm. "Those zombie-things may be inhumanly strong, but their skin is also way more sunken and brittle than that of a normal person."

"And what's the third part of the Dark King's armies? That giant monster you mentioned in the hospital wing?" Jinbei surmised.

"Indeed," Breo responded as the slideshow shifted to one final, far more detailed illustration. A miniscule representation of a normal house alongside the drawing served to give some sense of scale to the monstrous titan, a feeling of dim horror shining through even out of the crude lines of pencil and pen. "If Jack's forces are like a navy, then _this_ thing is his flagship. It's inconceivably enormous, and has the power to spawn more of the birds and the undead foot-soldiers out of its slime at will…with massive jets of flame that shoot out of its mouth to boot. And that's not to mention that it shares its avian servants' aversion to peripheral visibility. The most potent weapon at its disposal, however, is simply its own weight; it's large enough that it can annihilate an entire city pretty much just by walking around. The number-one priority for anyone trying to take down Jack will have to be destroying this creature…the birds and the ghouls are just cannon-fodder."

"But if this thing's as big and as powerful as you say, what in the world can _we_ ever do about it?" Stephanie questioned, her hands raised to her mouth in fright.

"That's the next stage of our meeting: figuring out what to do next," Andore declared. "Kazama, why don't you inform everyone of the data you managed to extract for us?"

"Very well," Soichi Kazama said dutifully, holding up the flash drive that the redheaded duelist had returned to him, Stephanie supporting his arm so that he could raise it high without feeling too much pain. "This drive contains thousands upon thousands of classified files from the central network of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau. Security has had the entirety of Neo Domino wired for years – phone tapping, internet surveillance, you get the idea – and this data is the key to accessing all of that information for our purposes."

"I feel like I should probably be more concerned about that revelation, even though it will probably prove to be damn useful," Himuro asserted pointedly. "You're telling me that Security's been spying on the whole _city _all this time?"

"With someone like Rex Goodwin in charge of the agency, what were you expecting?" Kazama rejoined. "Trust me, I've never been a huge fan of some our more…Orwellian methods myself. If we can resurrect a new Security out of the old one's scrambled ashes, it'll be a kinder and more open institution, if I have anything to say about it."

"And what was that thing you mentioned about criminal marks, Kazama-san?" Yoshizo encouraged excitedly.

"The data compiled on the jump drive includes a full record of every man and woman in Neo Domino and in the Satellite who was ever marked by Security," Kazama explained for the benefit of those who hadn't been present during their prior discussion. "Properly utilized, that database could be used to track down any given individual with a criminal mark. Senator Izayoi already suggested that we use it to locate that Fortune Cup champion, Yusei Fudo, and after hearing about him from Jin and Yanagi-sama I really can't blame him."

"I agree," Jean stated succinctly. "In fact, based on Tenzen's explanation, I think it might be prudent for us to try and find all of the Signers…seems like they're the only ones who really stand much of a chance of defeating Jack in the final showdown. Err, Senator, I don't mean to pry, but does your daughter…?"

"She does not possess a criminal mark," Hideo interjected sternly. "For all the foolish blunders that I committed in the course of raising a daughter with powers far beyond what I could comprehend, I never went so far as to report any of her more violent outbursts to Security. So far as I am aware, the little girl whom they spoke of lacks one as well. So I believe that it's only Yusei whom we will be able to track down in this way."

"Well, maybe the other Signers will be with him? I mean, it's worth a try, right?" Taro proclaimed hopefully.

"Perhaps…" Jean muttered. "But as long as we're on the subject, is there anyone else that we might wanna try recruiting using the marker-tracking system? Building up our forces is our top priority right now."

Several moments passed as the entire assemblage wracked their collective brains for all those they knew who possessed criminal marks, but most came up short; Team Unicorn and Taro's group were all outsiders to the city, and neither the Izayois nor Stephanie had ever had many dealings with the "seedier" side of Neo Domino.

After a minute or so, however, Leo Laruto's face lit up in startled realization. "Well, there is this one guy…a big lug by the name of Dojima," he reasoned out slowly. "I don't really know that much about him, but the important thing is that he happens to live next-door to my mother Zora. She's best friends with my Auntie Martha, who like I said earlier is the woman that raised both Jack _and_ Yusei. If we can track down Dojima, we can track down my mom, and maybe get into contact with Martha as well. Maybe she'd have a chance of talking Jack around!"

"I highly doubt _that_," Jean equivocated. "But I suppose it's worth a try. So I guess I'll put Kazama, Leo, Jin, and Tenzen on this criminal marker project. Breo, you provide them with technical support with regards to our systems and Stephanie, you stick around them to run gofer assignments as needed. That will leave Andore, Hideo, Setsuko, Taro, Yoshizo, Jinbei, and myself to work on the next stage of our operations."

"And what might that be?" Jinbei inquired.

"Why, coming up with a concrete plan to take apart that oozing monster, of course!" Andore cried, gesturing back to the vivid image still sketched upon the screen. "Breo said it best; no matter how you parse it, defeating Jack for good is going to require destroying that thing first."

"So what exactly are you proposing?" Senator Izayoi asked seriously.

"As you heard, the servants that come out of the main creature's slime appear to have at least two weaknesses: concentrated electricity and extreme blunt force," Andore replied. "But we don't really possess a feasible way to apply either of those to something of _that_ size, so I'm suggesting that we set a trap and capture one of those zombie-things, so that we can conduct a few…experiments. We're dealing with forces that none of us come even close to understanding, so it can't hurt to have a bit more data on the subject."

"You two don't really strike me as scientists, though," Taro pointed out. "And this is one area I don't think my group's going to be _any_ help with."

"Don't sell yourselves short," Andore retorted with a wry grin. "The most important thing in this operation is going to be manpower, not expertise…especially since we'll be importing the equipment directly into 'Always.' That's what the money from the gold and jewels that you donated is going to be going toward, Senator."

Hideo and Setsuko both nodded their approval, and Andore continued, "All the same, that was one of the main reasons why we sent out a call for help across our entire network of connections as soon as we arrived here. In particular, the world-famous Team Ragnarök from Norway is led by a man named Harald Ledberg, who doubles as both a professional duelist and a renowned biologist. He's indicated that his team is already en-route to our location, and I'm hoping that with his assistance we'll be able to conduct these experiments from a more scientific standpoint. Until then, however, we can at least focus on creating a sufficient containment chamber and sticking one of those ugly-ass ghouls into it."

"Sounds like a plan!" Yoshizo shouted eagerly. "Shall we all get to work, then?"

The two groups seemed to take this exclamation as a signal to split up, but Jean held up his hand to grab their attention for one final issue. "A single matter remains for us to all parlay upon: a collective name," he announced, exchanging meaningful glances with his teammates. "Team Unicorn was appropriate when we were merely a trio, but now that our resistance force is over a dozen-strong I feel that our moniker should reflect all of the myriad traits that you bring to the table. So do we have any suggestions?"

"Team Crimson Star!" Yanagi offered. "Makes sense, since we're trying to locate the Signers and all!"

"Team Taiyou, perhaps?" Taro proposed. "I feel like it projects the image of a morning sun, rising valiantly above the dim horizon."

"How about simply Team Neo Domino?" Senator Izayoi put forward. "After all, our ultimate goal is to restore the city to its former glory, untainted by all of this chaos."

"Team Blue-Eyes Mountain?" Stephanie asserted, before immediately redacting her submission under the strange glares that it earned. "Err…never mind."

"All good suggestions…more or less," Jean said with a playful smirk, hoping that Stephanie would take the short dig in good humor. She giggled, however, so he went on, "Anyone else?"

A beat passed before Kazama raised his hand…and immediately cringed again from the pang of lingering pain. "Let me just start out by saying that, as a police officer, I'm used to working in a tightly knit unit," he pronounced, a hint of grief evident on the cusp of his voice. "The Officers you serve with, day-in and day-out…they become like your family, in every single respect. By their side you experience victory and loss, happiness and pain, righteous fury and insurmountable sorrow; all you could ever desire in a true brother or sister manifests completely in a good partner. Now every man and woman that I've ever worked beside since I entered the force is dead, and though I am only just meeting you all now that means that, as a collective, _you_ shall be fulfilling that role from this point forward.

"But while I still know so little about any of you, I look out upon your hardy and determined faces and I feel…hopeful, somehow," he continued. "Though you differ across lines of gender and race, of nationality and age, of class and profession, this short meeting has seen you all band together so thoroughly that it casts heavy doubt upon the cynical view of humanity that has dominated Neo Domino's mindset for so many years. That a standing Senator would have no issues sitting directly beside a couple of men emblazoned with criminal marks…there is something decidedly special in that. So in order to honor the unbelievable bonds that are rapidly forming and constantly strengthening amongst us all, I would like to humbly contribute the following title: Team Kizuna."

There was a beat of silence following the rattling breath that proclaimed this fresh candidate for their united appellation, before Hideo Izayoi coughed dramatically and declared, "Seconded."

In the next moment a decisive murmur of assent traveled across the conference table, and though Jean felt obliged to put it to a formal vote there was scarcely a need. "Very well then," the brunette leader stated with a smile. "It is unanimous; now is the time for us all to embark on the first official missions of Team Kizuna."

[-]

Jack Atlas was climbing higher and higher, unfettered by such mundane factors as gravity; with Wiraqocha Rasca lending him its divine power, the Dark King felt persistently as if there were absolutely no limits to the extent of his abilities.

Of course, that same power came with some very serious drawbacks, and it was his recent realization of one of them that had caused Jack to escape the mortal world for the moment and rest within the clouds, freezing-cold condensation blowing across his unfeeling skin. "Condor, are you there? I demand to speak with you!" he shouted…for emphasis, of course. This _was_ a being, after all, that could hear his words even without him having to verbalize them, as completely integrated into his mind as it was. And indeed, the Jibakushin in question wasted little time in demonstrating this fact.

_What is it, My host? Permeating throughout your soul, I detect a palpable sense of…displeasure._

"You know damn well what I wish to talk about," Jack responded shortly. "Taking over my body directly, shunting my mind aside like some two-bit servant and manipulating my muscles and sinew like some sadistic puppetmaster…that was _not_ part of our deal!"

_How so? As I recall, Our deal was sealed merely with the words, "Take me." I was simply taking the maxim you provided Me to its natural extension._

"I wasn't aware that Gods could bullshit like that," Jack spat sardonically. "You can't possibly excuse your actions with ignorance of my original intent; nothing that passes across my mind is closed to you, so it should have been _eminently_ clear to you that I would not appreciate my consciousness being completely supplanted. What do you have to explain yourself?"

…_Very well. I did indeed sense that seizing total control over your form would highly offend your more regal sensibilities, but as I did not understand this strange hesitancy I deemed it immaterial. Why should you, the most powerful human on Earth, feel _anger_ at the notion of sharing your body fully with I, the most powerful God? We were made for each other, Jack Atlas…so why should you deny the ultimate fulfillment of that simple truth?_

Jack was, to put it mildly, rather disturbed by this sudden turn of phrase. "To start with, let's get a couple of things straight," he growled. "I tied my energies to yours purely out of necessity; no more, no less. While I do appreciate the nigh-boundless power that being your Earthly avatar affords me, make no mistake – we were _not_ 'made for each other.' Our bonding is a strictly professional arrangement, and I'd much prefer to keep it that way…for what remains of my battered soul belongs to my Dark Queen, and my Dark Queen alone."

_You…misunderstand, My host. Your relationship with your chosen mate is of no concern to Me, and I had no intention of slighting it during My previous statement. I meant only that…_

"What exactly do you think of Carly?" Jack suddenly interrupted.

…_From whence does this question arise, might I inquire?_

"Again, you know very well what I'm talking about," the Dark King hissed into the roaring winds that slammed against his inert form. "My objections to you treating my body like a glorified timeshare are not merely a matter of pride, though your utter shamelessness has certainly wounded mine. No, the true source of my antipathy runs far deeper than that.

"The reason why I 'hesitate' to bond further with your essence is that I just experienced the entirely unwelcome sensation of my own body being usurped by an entity that in some respects I find entirely unknowable…three feet from where the only being whom I still give a damn about on this Godforsaken world lay vulnerable and helpless," Jack laid out in carefully measured tones, fury very shallowly concealed under his booming voice. "Until I can trust that you bear no ill will whatsoever toward my Dark Queen, I shall remain obstinately resistant toward your every attempt to assert greater influence over my actions."

Jack Atlas could feel, within the deepest recesses of his psyche, Wiraqocha Rasca's constant mental presence fidgeting violently as it struggled to come up with a safe answer to its host's question…but the protracted silence was answer enough.

"I understand that while your access to _my_ mental processes is wantonly unlimited, there are certain parts of your own consciousness that are kept perpetually secret…even from me," he declared shrewdly. "But you are new to this mortal world, condor, and inexperienced at restricting all of your most personal thoughts to those furtive areas. When I asked you that question directly, enough of your immediate response sifted through for me to ascertain the truth: you resent Carly Nagisa, and her chosen God, for forcing you to share the King of the Underworld's bountiful energies."

_And why should I not be? The utter failure of Uru and the rest over the past few days has only proven further that sharing power amongst the Jibakushin is nothing short of suicide! The limitless power of the shadows is maximized when it is channeled through one single God, and one single avatar. That 'Queen' you extol so fervently…she is merely dead weight, holding back your potential as the single greatest mortal who has ever lived or died!_

"Be _silent!_" Jack screamed, and even the Earthbound God could tell from his tone that it had crossed a line. This was only underscored by the Dark King extracting a single card from his coat pocket and holding it tightly between his fingers, ready to rip it to shreds at the slightest provocation. "You listen here, condor, and you listen well – I am building this world of Hell for Carly, and for Carly alone. Without her I have absolutely no reason to go on; no reason to keep grasping onto this pale shade of life that tethers me to Earth. So if you harm one single hair on her head…if you even dare to _insinuate_ that she is anything less than the deserving empress of this wretched planet…then your agenda on this plane will come to a most abrupt end. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

A beat passed as lightning began to flash across the clouds directly behind the Dark King, and then…

…_Indeed you have. Very well, My host…I give you My sworn oath that I shall never bring damage or injury upon your precious Dark Queen, by My hand or by your own. In return, I ask only that you no longer protest My occasional forays into the forefront of your consciousness, so that I might continue to manage the agents that I have set forth within your mortal world._

"If that promise is genuine…then we have no issue, condor," Jack admitted stoically, before tilting his wings and setting course back toward their fortress, his mind unsettlingly clear as he made the long descent.

[-]

They were everywhere.

Shambling creatures that appeared as if they had been ripped straight from the pages of a horror novel were not something that Yusei had ever given any thought to when he had been training himself to his physical peak all those years back in the Satellite. Fellow Duel Gangs, lone Security Officers, Ghouls and other rare card-hunters that tended to skulk around the very lowest parts of the criminal underworld…Yusei Fudo could absolutely handle any of _them_, provided he had his friends to back him up. But _zombies_?

Still, now that he was actually going up against a swarm of the relentless undead, Yusei was left feeling rather thoroughly unprepared. The gaunt monsters appeared to lack any sort of conscious mind, even a collective one, rendering both talking and dueling utterly useless courses of action in resolving this crisis. As such, Yusei was handling the situation the old-fashioned way.

Fortunately, these emaciated cadavers were turning out to be far from invincible; a single well-placed punch or kick was usually enough to cave in their grayish skin and shatter their brittle bones. Their real advantage was their numbers, and their sheer efficiency – their instinct was clearly to attack the most vulnerable portions of the human body on sight, or else to restrain a target's limbs so that another ghoul could finish the job.

Yusei was rather too strong and swift for him to fall for this ploy (at least while his adrenaline was pumping; the story might change if this battle continued for another fifteen minutes or so), but he had initially been worried that Sherry and Mizoguchi might not be so fortunate. To the Signer leader's surprise, however, both the French blonde and her burly bodyguard were proving to be highly adept fighters, taking apart walking corpses with their bare hands left-and-right. Mizoguchi in particular was demonstrating himself to be almost frighteningly resourceful, as his customized Duel Disk apparently included everything from a miniature sword to smoke bombs, all of which he was utilizing to great effect against their undead foes.

But the swarms were continuing to flood into the grounds surrounding Martha's orphanage at an alarmingly fast rate, and they were showing no signs of stopping at any point in the near future – for every creature that the trio took down, another three rose to take its place. And running did not appear to any longer be an option, as the drones had demonstrated a certain level of craftiness by forming a tight perimeter around the building, limiting the three duelists from moving more than a dozen yards or so away from the structure's position.

"Monsieur Fudo, we can't keep this up," Sherry whispered emphatically as the pair were forced back-to-back by the encroaching swarm, crushing the spines of every enemy that got too near. "We need to retreat into that building immediately."

"That's an orphanage, Sherry," Yusei responded tensely, grasping a zombie by the neck and shattering its skull with a sharp blow. "It's not designed to be effectively defended from external attack."

"But do we have any other choice, Yusei-san?" Mizoguchi shouted as he grappled with four ghouls at once, eventually throwing them all against a tree and slashing them to shreds with his Duel Disk's extended blade. "We stand and fight any longer and we will be slaughtered. Holding down that manor is our only chance to buy ourselves enough time."

"Enough time for what?" Yusei asked as the trio sprinted backward, their backs to the orphanage's front wall.

"Enough time for…" the elder gentleman began, but the distinct sound of a revving engine cut him off. "On second thought, it appears as if barricading ourselves will not be necessary after all," he amended with a rare smile, and a moment later the cargo door of their helicopter slammed open (flattening several of the shambling cadavers surrounding it) and his slender D-Wheel shot out from its recesses, Sherry's and Yusei's both dragged behind it by chains.

"I have a remote control device located in my Duel Disk," he answered in response to their unsaid question. "Now Yusei-san, my lady, I believe the common term is…let's ride."

[-]

Through the wide window of his company's CEO office, Samuel Bolger stared out onto the burning wasteland that Neo Domino City had now become, before his eyes were drawn – for the umpteenth time that day – to the photograph of his old friend, Robert Pearson. Unconscionable rage instantly filled his slender form at the sight, however, and with a furious scream he slammed the picture frame into the face of his desk, so that Pearson's shining eyes and gleeful smile could taunt him no longer.

"Why…_why_ do you torment me even now, from three years beyond the grave?" he shrieked, knowing well that no one else would hear his breakdown, the building having been evacuated a many hours ago. "My actions were necessary to make our dream a reality, after you arrogantly turned away the assistance that would have allowed our research to come to fruition _without_ bloodshed. You must understand…you left me no other choice at that point! So why, in the name of all that is holy, have you returned to haunt me _now_?"

Being a still picture, Pearson could not of course reply to that demand, but in the state of paranoia that his slipping sanity was gestating Bolger thought that he could hear the grizzled redhead's sharp, barking laughter, mocking him from the seats of Heaven while the physical world degraded into Hell. The joyful mirth, certainly no stranger to Bolger's ears, was obviously just a stress-induced hallucination (he at least still possessed the presence of mind to determine _that_ much), but the D-Wheel manufacturer nonetheless found the effect highly infuriating, as well as tremendously unnerving.

Versed as he was in Western literature (for a rigorous education was invariably the first step for a resident of Satellite such as himself to shed all traces of his "undesirable" background and succeed in this bigoted city), Bolger was being reminded incessantly, and rather unpleasantly, of his favorite of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories: "The Tell-Tale Heart."

Like the murderer at the center of that narrative, Samuel Bolger knew well that, short of a complete confession on his part, there was absolutely no chance for the crime of Pearson's murder to be traced back to him; Security was notoriously blasé with regard to the murders of "Satellite scum" and in any event nothing more than his _Blood Mephist_ card could possibly have been seen by any oncoming witnesses. So as long as the experimental Synchro Monster (pilfered ages ago from a fairly placid KaibaCorp employee who almost seemed like he had _wanted_ it to get stolen) remained hidden in his retired deck, Bolger was free-and-clear for life.

But that laughter, pounding endlessly within his mind like a dismembered heart beating beneath the floorboards…that laughter was the price he had to pay for his lack of punishment. It wasn't even a regular occurrence – if the accursed chortling came about at a set time monthly or weekly or even daily, Bolger could at least prepare for its onset and steel himself accordingly; rather, it shot across his psyche at entirely random intervals, rendering him perpetually anxious and unable to concentrate, for fear that he would be disturbed in the middle of a task by the cacophonous mirth.

"Shut up!" he cried, though he was well-aware that it would do no good. "Shut up, shut up, _shut up!_"

This exclamation, however, _did_ receive a response…but certainly not one that Bolger had been anticipating. Physical laughter – a shrill, insane cackle that emanated from an unseen source – joined that which existed only within his mind, before a tall man bedecked in a crisp school instructor's suit emerged from the doorway, his eyes glimmering in madness.

"Who are you?" Bolger shouted, backing away nervously. "How did you get in here?"

The mysterious professor did not respond, instead merely signaling to a point to his rear and summoning several compatriots. They were a motley crew; a brunette man bearing a criminal mark, a scantily clad woman brandishing a slender black whip, a titanic giant who blocked the entire entryway merely by standing, and a squat figure hidden within a dark flowing cloak. All five generated a palpable aura of menace, particularly as they slowly advanced on Bolger's trembling form, and before the CEO knew it he was being restrained by the giant as the shrouded figure plucked an ebony plume from within his cloak and stabbed it straight into Bolger's rapidly beating heart.

_You are Samuel Bolger. For over three years you have been torn apart by intense guilt over the murder of your dearest friend…guilt for which you have continually refused to take responsibility, merely worsening your unrelenting mental anguish._

_Your insistence that it was Robert Pearson's foolish pride and not your own incessant greed that pushed you to such extreme measures eats away at the portion of your heart that knows this was not true; but nonetheless you persevere, channeling your pain in order to ruthlessly climb to the top of the business world, coldly and efficiently tearing down your competition so that none may intrude into your moments of vulnerability. This impresses me._

_But if you accede to the will of my Master, the Dark King of this world that has been consumed by the very fires of Hell itself, then he can make all of that crushing, corrosive guilt just…disappear. In my Master's service there is no regret, no remorse; on a plane where time has no meaning, what purpose is there in obsessing over the past?_

_Would you like the opportunity to forget your guilt once and for all…to leave behind the torturous complexities of your mortal emotions and embrace the simplicity of the shadows that lurk within your heart? All that and more is possible, if you merely swear undying fealty to the Dark King._

Bolger was an expert businessman by practice, if not by natural inclination, so under normal circumstances he would have thought long and hard with regards to the full ramifications of an offer such as this before making his final decision. But the CEO's current circumstances were _far_ from normal; three long years of excruciating, agonizing guilt, coupled with the madness that had enveloped the entire world around him over the past twenty-four hours, had broken his spirit completely, and it was with a heavy heart and a shattered soul that the former street duelist yielded control of himself to the strange force that emanated from the pitch-black feather. If this "Dark King" could rid Bolger of the crippling whirlwind of passions that his mind had collapsed into, then perhaps under his command, the desolate murderer might finally achieve some semblance of peace for the first time in three years…

_Then rise. Rise again, Samuel Bolger._

[-]

"Ushio-san…we need to talk," Mikage Sagiri muttered as soon as the pair was alone, her eyes averted from his crestfallen face.

Those four heavily loaded words – the single most dreaded phrase for any man who ever lived to hear from their object of affection – were enough to pull Ushio completely out of his preoccupations over Saiga, at least for the moment. "W…What do you mean?" he stammered, blanching vividly.

"What just happened…after you saved me from that maniac…" she mumbled awkwardly, still unable to meet his gaze.

"You're not going to try and tell me that didn't mean anything," the Security Officer interjected, a hint of pleading to his tone.

"N…No!" Mikage exclaimed, her posture limp and shaking. "Of course it meant _something_; I'm just…not sure exactly what. I mean…I was so scared…and confused…I just don't know what I was thinking in that moment…"

"Well, what do you think now?" Ushio asked softly.

"I told you, I'm…confused…" she responded lamely. "What I told you before I was kidnapped…I _thought_ that was true at the time, but after I shouted you down I felt so bad about it, and all that time that I was tied up in that room you were all I could think about…how I'd hurt you, and whether I'd really meant everything I said…"

Finally her eyes met his, and slowly, wordlessly she found herself drawn back to his firm, supple lips. Their second kiss lasted even longer than their first, Mikage winding up completely lost in the euphoria of being held so tight, and with so much care…until finally her mind snapped to a realization, and she gently pulled away.

"Ushio-san…" she began again, but this time with a smile. "That…that was a test…to see if I felt the same way kissing you now as before."

"And…_was_ it the same?" Ushio encouraged, almost desperately. This was the crucial juncture – the point where it would be determined whether or not he would experience crushing rejection yet again, or whether the recent disappearance of his avaricious curse was in fact an omen for yet more good things to come.

"Even better," the blue-haired woman returned, shining a magnificent smile as she embraced him firmly.

The Security Officer's burly shoulders released their copious tension in response to those two wonderful words, and as he held the woman of his dreams close he felt his brain reach the rough approximation of an energetic conga line. Silently the pair reclined back onto the bed Zora had provided to Ushio, Mikage tucked comfortably under his arm as she rested her head pleasantly upon his muscular chest.

For the next thirty minutes or so, the two Public Security Maintenance Bureau employees simply talked. Though they had had a superb professional relationship for the past several years, the two hadn't had many opportunities to discuss more personal details before now. So as the hour they had allotted for Saiga to return ticked by, Tetsu Ushio and Mikage Sagiri swapped story upon story of their prior lives. This was a particularly difficult process for Ushio to undertake, given the various…iniquities present in the narrative of his own past.

"Wow…so you actually knew the legendary Yugi Muto when you were in high school?" Mikage whispered in amazement.

"Well, yeah…not that I think he remembers me very well," Ushio replied ashamedly. "I was the worst kind of bully a guy could possibly be, roughing up kids and demanding obscene amounts of 'protection' money right afterward. But Yugi, whether he was intending to or not, ended up turning my whole life around. He, err…retaliated against one of my particularly brutal beatings, and gave me the humiliating kick to the crotch that I'd been needing for years." Ushio chose to omit the whole "Penalty Game" matter, since while Mikage was certainly no stranger to the supernatural by this point – the birthmark now burned into his forearm was proof – there was something implacably personal about that particular detail, as if discussing it with others would somehow be a violation of trust.

In any event, the scarred Security Officer continued, "It took a few years seeing how it felt to be the victim, the underdog, the downtrodden loser…for me to finally wake up and get my act together. It was a Helluva lot of work, but eventually I caught back up with all the education I shirked when I _should've_ been learning it, entered the Security academy, and graduated with honors. I received a few fairly rare commendations with regards to my stealth and interrogation techniques, so I ended up being chosen to work the beat in Satellite right off the bat."

"And what was that like?" Mikage asked. Despite the fact that she was currently residing there, she still couldn't really say that she knew all that much about the Satellite. For over eighteen years of her life, the distant island had been an entirely amorphous entity, one which she could associate with nothing more than a vague aura of menace and sin.

"It was really, _really_ fucking difficult the first several months, dealing with some of the worst riff-raff and scum that ever walked this Earth," Ushio described bitterly. "Drug dealers, rapists, mass-murdering psychopaths…maybe I grew to hate them so much because in their depraved faces I saw a little bit of my old self…what I could have become were it not for Yugi's intervention. But now that I've let go of that prejudice – or at least managed to narrow it down to the criminals that actually deserve it – I feel like I've finally become the man I was always meant to be…one who isn't ashamed simply to see his image in a mirror. That's why, if I ever run into Yugi Muto again, the first thing that I'm going to do is shake his hand and thank him from the bottom of my heart. Against all odds, he was strong enough, and heroic enough, to set even someone like me on the right path."

"That's…simply incredible, Ushio-san," Mikage said, her eyes shining with a strange mixture of bewilderment and pleasant satisfaction. It took Tetsu a few moments to realize that what she was expressing was, in fact, _pride_ over his success, an emotion whose expression on his behalf was almost entirely foreign to the Security Officer.

Ushio felt a burning sensation in his cheeks and belatedly figured out that he was blushing, so in a rushed effort to change the subject he found himself inquiring, "How about you, Mikage-san? How did you end up working for that…err…_slime_, Goodwin?" The pauses in his question made it fairly clear that he had meant to use a rather more "colorful" word to describe the Director, but had held back on some of his more venomous invective for her sake.

"Well, ever since I was a teenager, I always wanted to go into the world of law enforcement," Mikage answered with a wistful smile. "But my family was very proper and traditional, and my parents told me in no uncertain terms that becoming a Security Officer would not be an appropriate career choice for the only daughter of the Sagiri clan. The closest I could get to achieving my real dream while still keeping my family happy was to apply for a position with the _administrative_ division of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, which resulted in a whole slew of various desk jobs. My most recent station – that of Director Goodwin's secretary – was quite a significant promotion from my last several positions, both in terms of pay and in terms of the relative importance of my work, but…well, to be honest, I'm rather glad to be out of his employ at the moment..."

"How come?" Ushio pressed, not liking her rather dejected tone one bit.

"The Director has…a temper," Mikage explained delicately, one hand unconsciously rubbing the tender flesh of her neck as she did. "Usually he keeps himself almost disturbingly calm, but every once and a while, when he receives bad news from either Vice-Director Dokeshi or myself…he becomes absolutely terrifying to behold…"

"Argh…that _motherfucker!_" Ushio growled suddenly, correctly surmising the connection between Mikage's involuntary tic and the situation she was describing. "If I ever get my hands on that silver-haired bastard, I swear to God I'll teach him how to fucking treat a lady…"

Though the blue-suited woman's immediate response to this was honest, pleasant surprise at his knee-jerk chivalry, she redacted quickly, "There's n…no need for that! I mean, you wouldn't want to lose your job like that, would you?"

"I can get another one," Ushio shrugged off. "And besides, I'm not entirely sure I still have my current gig to begin with. Goodwin may have been the one to organize this little excursion to the Satellite to take the Dark Signers down, but so far as I know no one's seen or heard from him in days." Pulling up his sleeve and exposing the burgundy markings that represented the Crimson Dragon's tail, he added, "Like it or not, it looks like _this_ is my job for the foreseeable future."

"I suppose…" Mikage replied uncertainly, but she was cut off by a shrill beeping sound that was being emitted from the PDA that Martha had handed over to Ushio. The Security Officer made an anxious leap for the device, only to find that Saiga had finally answered his earlier message…though perhaps not in the way that Ushio had been anticipating.

**URGENT**

**Can't talk at length. Walled up in warehouse. Cornered by ghouls, about two or three dozen. Transmitting coordinates with message.**

**Good to know you're alright. Don't be reckless. Come and save me only if you have a gameplan and back-up.**

**Right now, you're more important.**

**SAIGA**

Ushio was left to marvel at the underground entrepreneur's resourcefulness as the screen lit up with a virtual map of the Satellite, Saiga's current position represented as a glowing red dot. Pocketing the computer Ushio scrambled to his feet and adjusted his scarf back into position, only to find Mikage already standing and straightening out the lines of her suit as well.

"What the Hell are you doing, Mikage-san?" the Security Officer questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"What does it look like?" the blue-haired woman rejoined, somewhat defiantly. "I'm going with you to rescue Saiga-san."

"But…" Ushio began, but Mikage cut him short.

"I told you, a Security Officer is what I've always wanted to be, and this looks like a job for a couple of them," she interjected. "I'm tired of feeling like a useless damsel-in-distress, and here's a perfect opportunity for me to use my training and skills to do some real good. So don't try to stop me, Ushio-san, or you're not going to like the result."

Seeing the eminently graceful woman so poised and strong caused Ushio to be struck with the sudden urge to kiss her once more – an urge that he immediately acted upon. As their lips separated, however, the Security Officer sighed and finally said, "Alright, fine. But I'm driving."

And with that, the couple proceeded arm-in-arm to Tetsu Ushio's Security jeep, their minds set on rescuing the missing member of their group, come Hell or high water.

[-]

"How do I keep getting caught up in situations like this?" Saiga Madera muttered grimly, shaking his head.

The mission was supposed to have been simple and straightforward: Ushio possessed a device designed to track individuals with criminal marks, and Saiga possessed a device designed to track _those_ devices; a remnant of his days spent scrambling markers and keeping clients out of Security's hands for a nominal fee. But that plan had been rather abruptly derailed by a massive swarm of those zombie-things appearing out of nowhere, assaulting his person and shattering his gadget in the process. The past several hours had been spent desperately fleeing from the horrifying creatures, with the abandoned warehouse now serving as his makeshift shelter being the first place he could find that was fortified sufficiently to keep those shambling corpses out, at least for the moment.

It took several moments of frenetically catching his breath before Saiga achieved the presence of mind to pull out his homebrewed PDA. Scrolling through his brief list of messages soon revealed a single new communiqué…and from the companion device he had lent to Martha, no less!

A moment later Saiga was breathing much easier, knowing that Ushio and Mikage had made it back on their own. There was truly no love lost between him and any representatives of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, but Saiga was a practical man, and one who always made sure to keep his eyes on the big picture rather than extraneous personal grudges. And whether he liked it or not, the big picture was that Ushio was a Signer now, and therefore that they weren't going to be getting out of this mess without his help.

Hearing dozens of skeletal fists crashing against the heavy metal door he had barricaded on the way in, Saiga swore low and sent back a quick response to the boisterous Security Officer, candidly informing him of his present predicament. The grizzled youth hoped that his message had succeeded at impressing the direness of the situation while simultaneously downplaying the urgency of his rescue; although he would certainly prefer _not_ to die today, he nevertheless didn't want any of the more valuable members of their party risking their lives for the sake of his.

It took a few moments of staring blankly at the artificial glow of his handheld computer for Saiga to overhear an audible sob and realize that he was not, in fact, alone. Standing up and peering cautiously around a large stack of industrial crates, the slender brunette was shocked to discover a small group of young children, huddled around a gas lamp and shivering. Several of their number were crying violently.

His light footsteps appeared to have alerted the nearest boy, a tiny lad bedecked with a bandana. "Who…who are you?" he asked fearfully.

"Relax…I'm not going to hurt you," Saiga attempted to reassure him. "My name is Saiga Madera. Who are all of you?"

"I'm…uh…Taiga," the child responded timidly. "That's Ginga…and Daichi…and Kokoro…and Hikari."

"And how did you all end up here?" the older man questioned, pulling out a few candy bars from his backpack and offering them to each kid in turn. Chocolate was one of the core provisions that he always made sure to carry with him on extended treks through the streets, but as he observed the quintet set ravenously upon the snacks with the air of people who hadn't eaten squarely in days, he concluded that they needed the calories far more than he did.

"We're…not really sure, mister," chimed in the boy named Ginga. "We all used to live in a small shelter together, taken care of by our big brother Crow. He brings us food and clothes and sometimes even cards, if he can find them!"

"Wait a minute," Saiga proclaimed, snapping his fingers in realization. "I remember you guys now…I was with Yusei and Crow when they visited you back before this whole Dark Signer mess started. Crow gave out some cards and told the story of Daedalus Bridge, right?"

"Told ya he looked familiar," asserted the stout boy who had been called Daichi. "You had a funny hat when you came to see us, didn't you?"

"I suppose I did at that," Saiga replied, chuckling slightly despite the gravity of the situation. "That's the point where I lose track of the story, though. Just what happened to you five after we left?"

"That was…the last time we saw Crow Nii-san," the girl named Kokoro explained, looking quite downcast. "A little while later this weird black foggy stuff came into our home, and then everything was all dark…I couldn't see or hear anything…and I was so scared…"

Kokoro started to choke up again, so Hikari picked up the rest of her story as Saiga held the trembling girl close. "We were stuck in that black stuff for a really long time, I think…but after a while we felt our bodies get kinda sucked back into the real world, where we got stuck in this giant scary spider thing…"

"Until Crow Nii-san's friend Yusei freed us in a duel," Taiga offered. "Then we ended up out in this district, and we've been kinda…wandering around ever since. But after a while those weird creatures found us, and we've been stuck hiding here ever since…"

That story, at the very least, explained the children's obvious exhaustion and ample appetites; from what Martha had described to him, being absorbed by a Jibakushin used up huge amounts of bodily energy, and the kids had clearly not had a chance to sufficiently recover from their ordeal, what with those disgusting monsters chasing them about everyplace. And now, Saiga had only succeeded at bringing danger even closer onto their innocent heads…

Examining the survival supplies that he had thought to bring with him and beginning to formulate rough plans for their successful implementation, Saiga Madera began to sincerely hope that Ushio or one of the others were going to be on their way soon, regardless of his words. Not for his sake – as he had already mentally established, he wasn't at all important in the grand scheme of things – but so that these poor kids would at the very least have the opportunity to see their "big brother" one last time.

[-]

Carly was waiting for him when Jack touched down upon the roof of their palace once more, her face set in a manner that he was now intimately familiar with: the determined look of someone who had important business on her mind, and a concrete plan to deal with it.

"I have come to a decision, my beloved," she declared ostentatiously after a brief welcoming kiss. "While the other Signers may be dealt with by our coming subordinates – though I'm guessing that you will want to handle Yusei personally – I wish for Aki Izayoi to be left to me."

"Izayoi?" Jack questioned, visibly surprised. As far as he was aware, the two young women had barely ever met, much less formed some sort of emotional connection that would drive his Dark Queen to vengeance. "Why her, specifically?"

"She slaughtered Misty-san," Carly muttered venomously, grabbing a random stone from the citadel's architecture and crushing it into fine powder with her fist. "In-and-of-itself, that action _more_ than justifies my hatred. But beyond that…Aki Izayoi is the one lingering reminder of the Arcadia Movement's myriad sins. You may have ensured that Divine is now beyond the reach of my retribution, but his hand-picked apprentice still walks the Earth with impunity. I shall force her to feel the pain she has so irresponsibly wrought upon the world, filling her with as much anguish and despair as was consuming Misty-san before her life was extinguished…and then, only then, will I end her wretched life."

"If this is that important to you, then you have my permission to pursue this goal as you see fit," Jack acquiesced. "Just…be careful, please. Izayoi may be entirely deserving of your vendetta, but she is still a Signer, and an obscenely powerful psychic as well. Defeating her will not be a simple task, by any means."

"I am well aware of the dangers, my Dark King," Carly said, reaching into her pocket and extracting her deck, which she shuffled and then drew from at random. "But something tells me that fate is on my side at the moment," she added with a wry smirk, revealing _Fortune Lady Lighty_.

"A good fortune, I assume?" Jack asked, his brow furrowed. He had never paid particularly close attention to her habit of verifying her portents via the various witches that resided within her deck, but then again he supposed that their track record really couldn't be doubted; the fact that he stood here now, fulfilling the _Prophecy of the Future King_ in its entirety, was ample proof.

"The best," Carly replied, her smug grin widening. "When my lady here still went by the name of _Fortune-Telling Witch Hikari_, drawing her was supposed to mean that all my dreams would come true. And with my one true love and the very _world_ both at my disposal, the only dream of mine that remains yet unfulfilled in the slow and painful death of Aki Izayoi. That, I intend to remedy very soon…but it may require venturing back into the city for a short period."

"Interesting," Jack stated laconically, his expression poised and thoughtful. "I have indeed been intending to make a visit there within the near future, in order to examine my new holdings; the central Momentum reactor, in particular, will require my…personal attention."

After a few moments' quiet contemplation, the Dark King concluded, "Very well, then. I propose that we both make a brief sojourn to Neo Domino as soon as my servant returns with his fresh…reapings," Jack put forth with a relish. "It seems foolish, after all, to make long-term plans for dealing with the Signers without first knowing what kind of resources we will be equipped with."

"I suppose there is some truth to that," Carly admitted. "Shall we, err, return to our throne room in the interim, then?"

"Well, actually…" Jack began, before whispering in his Queen's ear precisely what _he_ had been thinking of doing to pass the time until the Reaper's arrival. This caused Carly to laugh riotously and then afford her husband a regal nod, after which the couple retired to their private chambers without another word – their minds already melding closely enough that speech was once again unnecessary.

[-]

Beautiful. That was the only word in the entirety of the human vocabulary that was capable of perfectly capturing the magnificent sight that lay before Clark Smith's bespectacled eyes.

The device at the center of the Momentum Express Development Organization's corporate headquarters – codenamed "Infinity" by his enigmatic employers – was as much a work of art as any product of science could possibly be. While in use the machine span at velocities that exceeded the speed of sound, shimmering brilliantly with every color of the visible spectrum as it reached across the fabric of space and time and enacted Clark's will.

Strictly speaking, he _really_ wasn't supposed to abuse that power for anything other than what the Three Emperors commanded him to, but since oversight on their part was fairly lax he had managed to get away with using Infinity's nigh-limitless potential to rewrite history for rather more…minor issues. It gave him the illusion of divine importance – of Godhood, even – and truly, how much damage could altering _such_ trivial matters possibly wreak? His most recent "adjustment" of history's path was a good example; tired of his glasses constantly falling from the collar of his jacket when he set them there and then leaned over, Clark had caused the company that produced it to retroactively tailor all of their suits to fit closer to the body. In this way he had permanently rid his life of a persistent irritation while doing no real harm to the timestream.

…Unless, of course, the entire course of human history in fact hinged on some man dropping a pair of glasses out of his jacket.

Clark Smith chuckled at that wayward thought before stroking his chin and considering what change he should make _this_ day. He was thinking something personal, on this occasion; he tended to avoid making too many modifications to his own past, lest he ruin the sequence of events that led him to becoming the director of Momentum Express in the first place, but as with the macroscopic elements of history he figured that "touching-up" a few of the more trifling negative occurrences couldn't really hurt things _too_ badly.

Settling roughly upon the removal of one particularly vicious act of bullying in the fifth grade (and the violent deaths of the offenders and their families for good measure), Clark moved to boot up the program that managed Infinity's reach, but a thunderous storm of footsteps from behind stayed his hand. Such a sound made little sense; he was always absolutely certain to be the only employee in the building on the days when he engaged Infinity, and in any event this particular corridor was restricted to only the most senior of executives. His steely blue eyes filled with trepidation, Clark Smith turned around to behold his "visitors."

Six individuals were grouped around the entryway, arranged in tight formation so as to prevent Clark from making an escape. While he did not have the time to consult his facial recognition software to determine the identities of the intruders, however, he did not require it for the man that stood at the head of the formation. "Bolger? What the Hell is this about?" Clark asked tersely, taking a few steps back. Samuel Bolger was a frequent business partner and a friend, insofar as Clark had any, but the company he was now keeping – from the grotesquely tall giant to the stout figure ensconced within a bulky black cloak – did not exactly put the project director at ease.

"We have an offer for you, Clark," the bearded businessman stated in an unemotional monotone. "The Reaper will make everything clear soon enough."

Clark was about to protest that he didn't have time for this sort of thing, but the other members of their party seemed to take Bolger's words as a signal to grab the bespectacled blond by each limb and force him to the ground. Clark struggled violently, but for all the good it did he might as well have remained stationary; these mysterious figures appeared to be possessed of some degree of superhuman strength. A moment later the cloaked man struck him in the chest with what looked like a black feather, and Clark's mind immediately broke down into a complete blank. Nearly catatonic, his head lolled to the floor, and it was then that he heard the voice, sounding tense and impatient.

_You are Clark Smith. I grow weary of the effort I must expend to convert each wretch I encounter to the side of the Dark King, but no speech – not even some semblance of your permission – will be required for me to subjugate _you_. Your extensive contact with the energies of Momentum has accentuated the already ample wickedness within your depraved heart, and it is that very wickedness that allows me to tap into your soul's essence nigh-effortlessly._

_I require not to be impressed by your actions, though the evils you have committed are clearly myriad. I require not that you swear undying fealty to my Dark King, though you shall certainly do so in due time. I require only the following words, and the ranks of the servants I have gathered for the High Ruler of Hell shall finally be complete._

_Rise. Rise again, Clark Smith._

[-]

Ruka was, to put it mildly, inexperienced with this sort of thing. It was one matter to part from her physical body on accident, as had happened on all previous occasions, but quite another to intentionally project her essence into the spiritual aether and travel along its invisible pathways. Fortunately, she had some help.

"What brings you to this plane of existence, Ruka?" Regulus asked, materializing within the all-consuming white void that represented the green-haired girl's lack of direction.

"Kuribiii!" Kuribon chimed in, doing likewise. Sunlight Unicorn, Sunny Pixie, and Key Mace followed suit shortly thereafter.

"I'm trying to track down the King of the Underworld through astral projection," Ruka explained, causing the smaller spirits to shiver fearfully and Regulus to snarl in displeasure.

"This will be a highly dangerous task, Ruka," the white lion warned. "The creature you speak of has been devastating both the spiritual and the physical realms since it emerged into your dimension; its very _presence_ threatens to throw off the delicate balance that holds the fabric of both worlds together. Are you absolutely _certain_ you wish to undertake this perilous mission?"

"Yes, I am," Ruka declared confidently, though she wished that the rest of her ethereal form would concur better with her voice, as she was shaking all over at the thought of facing that monstrosity directly. Still, what needed to be done needed to be done. "The Signers have to know what that thing is doing, and where it's heading. If I don't gather that information for my friends, who will?"

Regulus merely sighed and shook his head. "Very well…if I cannot dissuade you, then I shall at least ensure that you have the proper protection," the horned lion breathed, before said horn glowed bright and another rift in the matterless void opened up. Several seconds later, the portal closed, and in its place resided Ruka's most powerful familiar: Ancient Fairy Dragon herself.

"I have heard everything through my connection to your birthmark, my dear," the azure dragon pronounced, gently scooping Ruka onto her rainbow-colored crest and signaling for the girl to grab onto her hair as for support. "Hold on tight and don't be afraid; we have a lot of ground to cover if we hope to catch up to that abomination in time."

The comparatively massive spirit then turned to her fellows and requested, "Spirits, while I greatly admire your bonds of loyalty to my chosen Signer, I must ask that you remain here. From what Ruka has been able to glean from her earlier visions, this creature possesses the rare ability to _kill_ Duel Spirits, so it would be unwise to approach it with too large of an assemblage. However…I will want you on hand, Regulus, in the event of an emergency. Ruka must have a pathway back in the event that the King of the Underworld attacks us directly; she is far, _far_ too important to fall at this crucial juncture."

"Of course, Ancient Fairy-sama," her chief servant acceded, bowing his head low. Then, without another word the two Duel Spirits were off, Ruka clinging on for dear life.

Now that the trio had some purpose with regards to their destination, the world around them was beginning to once again take form, until they resembled nothing if not brilliant streaks through an otherwise normal sky. At lightning-speed they proceeded across the Pacific Ocean and toward the western shores of America, drawn irrevocably to the locus of spiritual energy that the young Signer knew the King must be seeking as well.

Miles upon miles of unrelenting sea stretched before Ruka's eyes as they shot toward the United States, passing by her field of vision as a single enormous blue blur. Whether seconds or hours were elapsing as their journey progressed, the young Signer could not be sure – time seemed to pass far differently on the astral plane, to the point where it seemed almost as if it did not exist at all – but after some extended period the three beings were hurtling across dry land once more. She recognized their entry point to the continent as the state called "California," but beyond that she was fairly lost…at least until they reached their destination and stopped quite abruptly.

Her natural sensitivity to matters of the spirits had led Ruka to do great amounts of research into the supernatural beliefs of dozens of cultures the world over – far more research, in any event, than would normally be expected of a ten year-old. Consequently, the green-haired Signer immediately recognized the Black Hills when she saw them, the King of the Underworld already making short work of the enormous mountain range.

Located in what Americans now called "South Dakota," the Black Hills were among the most sacred sites in existence for various Native American tribes, and witnessing their desecration by this oozing beast was making Ruka severely nauseous. But although she felt very much like vomiting (or would have, if she was still connected to her physical stomach), the youngest Signer steeled herself and continued to watch its sacrilegious rampage.

"Did you notice?" Regulus questioned, diverting the attentions of both the girl and the dragon from the monster, which was now razing a segment of the massive peaks where faces of famous American statesmen had been carved from the stone. "The ground we passed across on the way here was untouched by that creature's desolation. It appears that not only are the major spiritual loci on this planet the King of the Underworld's main targets; they are its _only_ targets."

"For the moment, at least," Ancient Fairy Dragon equivocated. "I would wager that this is merely the King's first sweep across the Earth, my servant; it has all the time in the world to reduce the land and the sea into Hellish wastelands, so it is concentrating for the moment on eliminating potential threats to its supremacy. If every patch of hallowed ground on the planet is defiled, we spirits will no longer be able to tether ourselves to the physical plane…meaning that the humans will be left alone in battling against it."

Ruka did not have much time for the full implications of this alarming scenario to completely sink in, however, because as soon as the King of the Underworld shot a massive crater in the last of the hills to escape violation, its titanic head perked up, like a dog made suddenly alert by a whistle. Evidently, it could now sense a new target somewhere to the east, and its instincts for destruction were being set positively aflame, eagerness and anticipation being broadcast all across the spiritual aether.

A fraction of a second later the monster was sprinting along the continent, entire forests and towns withering and dying wherever its gargantuan feet touched ground. Ancient Fairy Dragon had evidently managed to secure some sort of link to the physical horror's dark essence, like a leash around the neck of a wild beast, as the trio were being pulled along for the ride, saved from being noticed – and incinerated – only by the creature's mindless lack of an attention span.

Surprisingly, however, this time their hyperspeed journey was arrested directly in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with no land or structures visible for miles on-end. Ruka flirted briefly with the notion that perhaps the Hellish abomination might be intending to attack the ruins of Atlantis (if, indeed, the legendary civilization had ever truly existed), but that thought died as soon as she noticed a jet emerging valiantly from the horizon, slowing down purposefully until it rested before the King of the Underworld, which roared aggressively.

Despite her youth, Ruka at least knew enough about physics to recognize the airplane's current position as conventionally impossible…meaning that whoever was aboard it was no ordinary pilot. And indeed, the air around the jet was currently growing turbulent and chaotic, torrential gales and murky clouds moving together to frame the atmosphere. The King gazed around wildly for the source of the disturbance, and for one heart-stopping moment Ruka thought that the monster might have noticed their presence off to the side, but what happened afterward snapped its attention back to the plane immediately.

For as dozens of lightning bolts crackled around the hovering vehicle, three pillars of blinding white light shot forth from its windows, bursting outward and causing the young Signer to shield her immaterial eyes.

And then, in that moment, the seas and the skies opened wide.

[-]

If Yusei had to give those walking corpses something, it was that they were no doubt resourceful.

Unable to come even close to pursuing the Signer and his companions on their D-Wheels, the zombies had immediately melted down into puddles of grayish slime and then reformed into large flocks of monstrous birds, which were having absolutely _no_ trouble keeping up with the riding duelists. Worse, these new creatures appeared to have some sort of power of invisibility, unable to be seen from any other direction other than straight-on…which was forcing the trio to dodge them more-or-less blindly.

Needless to say, this wasn't going so well.

Yusei was the first to take damage to his motorcycle, one of the filthy raptors slamming headlong into his front wheel in an attempt to force him into crashing. Fortunately, he had managed to reassert control before the creature's fellows managed to get at his heart or throat, but it was a very close call.

Sherry didn't fare quite as well, however. The desperation of their high-speed chase was evidently getting to her, and though she was still managing to swat or kick most of the birds away (no small feat while she was maneuvering her D-Wheel at the same time), inevitably one of their number managed to get through, dive-bombing the side of her vehicle and forcing it into a wall.

Screaming, the blonde Frenchwoman barely managed to leap from her steed-like motorcycle before it erupted into a ball of flame and twisted metal, and with a call of "My lady!" Mizoguchi doubled back for her, blasting apart a whole swarm of the avian beasts with yet another of his resourceful armaments as he shot toward his surrogate daughter, loading her onto his own narrow D-Wheel before she could be set upon in full force by the vengeful creatures. Yusei shouted back for them, but at that moment a great number of new ghouls emerged from the surrounding buildings and transformed, tripling the size of the birdlike army until they were all he could see in any direction.

Desperately attempting to avoid getting boxed in, Yusei swore and pumped his ignition further, several of the monsters bursting into flecks of goo as he ran straight through their would-be blockade. But now that over a hundred invisible birds of prey were bearing down on him from behind, the Signer leader knew that it was only a matter of time before his narrow luck would finally catch up with him.

To Yusei's credit, he managed to remain ahead of the encroaching horde far longer than most would have expected. The spiky-haired young man was not renowned as one of the world's premier riding duelists for nothing, and for several minutes he was deftly ducking and dodging around the creatures' numerous sneak-attacks, his own worry and anxiety over his recent companions' fates buried under the desperation of the moment. But eventually the birds seemed to wise up and began to attack en-masse, committing explosive suicide attacks upon Yusei's position until finally a group of five or so connected with both of his wheels simultaneously, sending the D-Wheel flying into a pile of rubble and Yusei himself crashing into the ground.

Blinding pain seared through his entire body from the sudden impact, and Yusei could see a steady pool of blood gathering where he had struck the uneven ground. The blood loss was significant enough that the Signer leader was beginning to feel his consciousness slipping, his vision blurring at the edges as he hazily stared up at the deceptively small flock above him, knowing that dozens and dozens of their fellows existed beyond his peripheral sight.

Yusei Fudo was well-aware that he was gazing upon certain death, precious seconds of life only being bought by some strange reticence in the birds' eyes. It was to his great surprise, therefore, that the monstrous beasts swept down and grasped Yusei, not by his throat or chest, but by the seams of his clothes, using their uncommonly strong beaks to drag him across the rough streets. Breathing heavily, Yusei realized after a few moments that Jack – and these demonic creatures by proxy – must have ordered him captured alive. No doubt that the newly reborn Dark Signer would desire one final showdown with his lifelong rival, after all.

Not that he was entirely certain he would actually survive the trip to Jack's headquarters, of course, given the rate at which he was currently losing blood…

How much time passed as Yusei was heaved through the burning roads of Neo Domino City, the young Signer could not be sure. All of his formidable willpower was being poured solely into the act of remaining conscious, but Yusei knew that he was fighting a losing battle on that front. Already the world around him was spinning, objects reduced to streams of color despite his best efforts to remain cognizant of their forms, and the nightmarish cawing of the birds whose mouths were not otherwise occupied with carrying Yusei being the only sound that filled his weakened ears.

…As such, when both the black blurs and the screeching chatter that they emitted disappeared, Yusei Fudo was absolutely certain that it was but a hallucination.

And yet, if this was a hallucination, then it was quite an exceptionally detailed one. Struggling to crane his neck and observe the wider situation, Yusei's dim eyes fell upon a particular blur that had certainly not been present beforehand – a humanoid figure bedecked in vibrant red, who was firing what appeared to be enormous spheres of pure blackness at the birds with pinpoint precision, swallowing the creatures whole and leaving no remains.

Even more effective than this mysterious savior, however, was its companion; a streak of black and brown that was tearing the monsters apart with such speed that Yusei doubted he would be able to see it distinctly even _if_ his vision was perfect. It was, at _most_, a full minute before the two enigmatic figures managed to eradicate the entire airspace of the Hellish raptors, after which the grounded one held out a hand toward Yusei and enveloped him in a shadowy aura.

The sensation passing through the Signer leader's mind in that moment went far beyond strange; for a scant few seconds, Yusei felt almost as if he had keyed directly into the cosmic framework that governed the very Universe itself, and was drawing power from the inky blackness that filled the vast majority of its available space. But unlike the darkness that had spawned those abominable creatures pursuing him, the empty void that now enveloped Yusei's mind was warm and inviting, complementing the light now bursting from his sign rather than detracting from it. For that brief little moment, the champion riding duelist's mind was completely at peace, and it was with the utmost grace that he touched back to the physical plane, his mortal injuries completely healed.

Now that he was wholly rid of the debilitating pain – and indeed, feeling better than he had since the Akaki Ryu had performed a similar miracle two nights prior – Yusei was finally able to get a good look at the mystifying man before him, who was striding forward with the purposeful gait of one who had urgent business to attend to.

The figure had the appearance of a wandering vagabond…certainly, it didn't look like he was one to ever be rooted in the same location for very long. Uneven stubble littered his chin and cheeks, while his light brunette hair lay in matted patches that extended well past his shoulders, as if he hadn't been to a barber anytime in the past decade or so. His blazer, which must have been resplendent with brilliant crimson at one point, was now faded and coated with grime and soot, as were his slacks and dilapidated shoes. Overall, the man looked more-or-less like any random street-person, the kind that the vast majority of people would pass by on the streets without a second thought…or at least they would, if not for his eyes.

The figure's eyes were _gold_, and not a shade that appeared in any way natural. Dim shadows lingered around the edges of the anomalous orbs, as if connecting the man directly to the soothing darkness that he had gifted Yusei a brief taste of earlier, while the pupils remained perpetually contracted into tiny flecks, so that the stare he was affixing the Signer leader with gained abnormal intensity. Yusei would get great chills from their powerful gaze, if not for the fact that the man had just saved his life.

"Yusei Fudo," he said after a few moments, his voice gruff and purposeful but also light and kind. "You're going to need to come with me. I require your help for a matter of utmost importance."

"Who…who are you?" Yusei asked in shock. "And how do you know who I am?"

"I know a great deal of things," he answered after a pause. "And as for a name…you may call me Judai Yuki."

[-]

A/N: Well, what do ya know? Nearly as long as Chapter 11, and done in less than two-thirds of the time! Hopefully this makes up for all my schedule slips over the past year…at least a little bit. XD

Fortunately, I've just enjoyed a couple of weeks of total relaxation at my grandmother's house, where about 60% of this chapter got pounded out. That also happened to be the place where I wrote the first two chapters as well, so I believe that congratulations to my grandma for having a house so conducive to the creative process are in order, LOL.

Anyway, I'd like to extend a sincere Happy New Year to all my wonderful readers and reviewers. Chapter 11, by some divine coincidence, garnered a total of 11 reviews over the course of the past couple of months, finally breaking the 100-review mark for the fanfic as a whole. As such, congratulations and well-wishes are in order for Zaconator and Zackis, KaliAnn, Sara Crewe, someone, Turbo K1000, Jen Kritique, JillRG, Red Demons Dragon, dsignercarly, Jackky, and…[BLANK]. Though, by the review style, I'm guessing that you're actually Viewtiful Jeff, and just forgot to sign your name on your bloody incredible review. XD

And now, for specific reviewer responses…

**Zaconator and Zackis:** Well, while I have a distinct distaste for 4Kids Entertainment, I do try to avoid bashing them mindlessly and give them credit where credit is due. And I do believe that, starting around the Crow vs. Bommer episodes, the writing on the dub really picked up. It still has its moments that make me really, really despise it (such as removing Carly and Jack's declarations of love from Episode 59), but so far their take on Season 3 has been relatively faithful. And they tend to improve the otherwise useless filler massively by injecting much-needed humor, so I'll give them kudos there as well.

**Sara Crewe:** Love ya babe, and I'm glad I could rescue GX from your own personal Scrappy Heap, at least briefly. ;D

**Turbo K1000:** While I suppose this is a legitimate point to some degree, I always envisioned this story as an epic, driven by every character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe that still has some stories to tell. Jack and Carly (and Yusei, on the other side of the coin) are indeed the prisms through which this epic is viewed, and we'll be getting some good material from them at least a couple of times per chapter, but the cast of characters that I'm having to juggle grows with every passing scene and I want to make sure the spotlight gets passed around relatively fairly.

**JillRG:** Once again, thanks a million for the recommendation on TV Tropes. Your requested one-shot (the one dealing with Edo Phoenix and a young Sherry Leblanc) will be completed right after I take care of my next Ace Attorney one-shot.

**Red Demons Dragon:** I choose none of my words lightly, and that includes "fuck" and "shit;" however, they _do_ get used quite often in realistic speech, and I simply attempt to emulate that where it makes sense. I do try to limit it to outbursts of emotion or extreme emphasis of important points, though, with the most gratuitous swearing saved for characters whose intelligence and/or morality can certainly be called into question (such as the gang members present in this chapter's first scene).

**[BLANK]…But I'm Going to Assume that It's Viewtiful Jeff:** Yeah, I think you were over-thinking the Reaper's potential targets, at least a little bit. XD

Player Killer actually got added last to my list of seven, as I was left with one empty slot after combing 5D's one-shot characters for some villains with breakout potential, causing me to shrug and add a legacy character as a form of fan-service. The idea to reintroduce him earlier and set up his conflict with Ushio from a non-related standpoint came later. Adding more of the DM/GX baddies to the mix would kinda ruin his uniqueness, anyway.

But since you brought them up specifically, I'll now address the particular "candidates" that you mentioned. Kodo was considered but eschewed because he was a natural opponent only for Aki, and I've been attempting to slowly build up an antagonism between her and Carly instead. Frank and Bolger, on the other hand, you nailed. ;D

As for the DM characters, since some version of Yu-Gi-Oh! R's story did occur in the history of the "My Dark King" Universe, Bandit Keith survived at _least_ that long, but I'm wagering that he eventually drank himself to death after Yakou's plans failed. Light Mask/Dark Mask/Pandora (as well as Seeker and Strings) are definitely dead in my mind; the more morbid side of my brain decided a while back that Malik never thought to release them from their catatonic states, so that eventually they simply starved to death. And the Meikyu Brothers are in quiet retirement; they already got their late-game cameo way back in the early days of GX's canon, so I have no burning interest in playing around with them anytime in the near future.

And finally, with regards to the GX characters, Tachibana got his Heel Face Turn at the end of his single episode appearance, so in my mind not only is he no longer slave to the Reaper (unrelated to mine, LOL) but he is now the headmaster of North Academia. Since Manjoume sent the Duel Academia students up there last chapter, we may or may not be checking in with him at some point. And as for Martin…"strangely absent" from my stories, hmm? I wonder if that could possibly be significant…

Rua wasn't made a Signer _specifically_ because it's what the audience would expect (and Rua himself, incidentally…he's been burying the angst about that for a little while, but look for a little bit of reflection from the little guy on the subject next chapter). But he still has an enormous role to play in the ultimate resolution of this plot, particularly with regards to what I intend to do with _Life Stream Dragon_.

Now, on the subject of Divine and Aki's sexual relationship…if I'll be honest, it's not exactly easy to write on my end, either. But Divine is one villain who it _really_ bothers me to see get dressed up in Leather Pants based on some imagined Freudian Excuse or paired up with Aki in a completely serious fashion, and to some degree those particular details (especially the unwitting abortion, which is _meant_ to make readers physically ill by its sheer monstrosity) are there to vividly remind everyone just how _evil_ this guy really is, even in the most mundane sense. If that horrifies you…well, then I guess I'm doing my job.

The fallen Dark Signers are indeed some of my favorite characters in the entire series (at the very least, they're my favorite characters that I cannot play around with in the present), so flashbacks including them shall be showing up whenever Carly sleeps. I'm not going to promise any regularity on that – after all, I don't want to make it seem like our dear Dark Queen has chronic narcolepsy – but rest assured that I _adore_ writing those scenes, so expect them whenever they work practically and thematically in the context of the chapter.

Dark Signers do not eat or drink, so no, Jack currently has absolutely no interest in the memetic awesomeness of _Blue-Eyes Mountain_…though I assure you that the remainder of Team Kizuna does not share that disinterest in the slightest. XD

My dialogue appearing overly flowery or overwritten is certainly a legitimate complaint, and while to some degree it is simply a quirk of my writing style it is something that I have been attempting to work on, at least for the characters where such eloquence simply doesn't make sense. But there are a few mitigating factors to the matter, and I will attempt to defend some particular examples of my tendency toward loquaciousness…

Firstly, Ruka is consistently characterized as overly mature for her age, and while the anime likes to forget it sometimes it was established early on that she was a child prodigy (admittedly in dueling rather than academics, but in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe they seem to go hand-in-hand more often than not). As such, I typically write her with about the same level of language as Aki, especially when she's discussing spiritual matters. Given her medical history and its underlying causes, it seems only natural that she would study the Hell up on those subjects.

Rua on the other hand is one character that I intentionally try to _avoid_ giving this treatment to, however, particularly so that the contrast between the Twins' personality types can be emphasized. If his language (or the language of the similarly aged children in this story apart from Ruka) gets too pretentious, then I apologize. Perhaps it's just too much Shakespeare in my background, LOL.

Finally, with regard to Yusei (and Ruka plus a few others, to some degree)…nearly all of his non-dueling dialogue from Chapters 10-11 was exposition (which I suppose is another potential flaw in the writing, but hey, he's convenient for the purpose), and one's vocabulary tends to take a boost when explaining things that the other person knows relatively little about, at least in my experience. I don't intend to make Yusei speak _so_ wordily apart from necessary info-dumps, like the one he delivered in Mizoguchi's helicopter.

Now, my offer for one-shot requests is fairly open-ended for a reason; I'd like to see my readers stretching their minds a bit and interacting with this story on their own creative level, with the prospective one-shots merely serving as an added incentive to get y'all going. Fan-art is most preferred, since drawing is one thing that I am absolutely _hopeless_ at myself, but if this fanfic inspires you at all through the avenue of another expressive form (whether it be prose or poetry or video editing or something else completely out of left-field), I wanna hear about it. :D

And last of all, by all means, keep reviews of this length coming if you can. As you could probably tell by the length of my response (so far, over 1100 words), there's nothing I enjoy more than a detailed critique containing witty praise, constructive and pointed criticism, and questions directed to get inside my head along the creative process. So once again, thanks a million, and I hope that 2011 treats you – treats _all_ of you – exceptionally well!

[-]

Now that the Reaper has completed his journey and brought forth a team of dark-hearted assassins unparalleled in the history of man, all of the chess-pieces have finally fallen into place, and the stage is amply set for them to commence the first stages of their clash. The forces of good may be scattered to the four winds, but a glimmer of hope from generations past has returned to reunite the world with its savior…and, perhaps, to unravel a few more secrets of the other side.

The bonds of humanity are gearing up for their final and most demanding test, and as heroes both mundane and divine collide with the unholy horrors attempting to claim this planet for their own, love and friendship remain the only weapons keeping hope alive. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 13: _Reunion_.

– Masterdramon


	13. Reunion

**My Dark King – Chapter 13: Reunion**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

"Alright Yubel, that's enough fun for now," the man who had called himself Judai Yuki shouted to a point over Yusei's shoulder, and in an instant the brown blur whom the Signer leader had nearly forgotten about in all the mayhem returned to its partner's side, folding a slender arm over his shoulders as it touched down to Earth.

Now that Yusei's vision was restored to its usual level he was finally able to observe the creature in all its splendor, though his first reaction was decidedly…mixed. On the one hand he had to admit that there was a sort of a beauty about the figure before him, but nevertheless is was extremely difficult to look past the sheer _strangeness_ of its outward appearance. It was almost as if someone had decided to stitch features from two separate humans together, throwing a dragon and a couple vampires into the mix for good measure.

The abnormality of this image was only further compounded when it opened its fanged mouth to speak in two echoing voices, one apparently male and one apparently female. "Oh, very well, my beloved," he/she crooned, kissing Judai lightly with his/her indigo lips. "But you know that I get to come out so _rarely_ these days."

"And _you_ know that I can't maintain your physical form for extended periods without being keyed into some sort of additional power source," he reminded him/her, with the clear air of someone who had fought this battle many times before. "Especially not with all the dimension folding I'm expecting to do today."

"Well, I wouldn't want to tire you out just for my sake," he/she yielded. "I'll keep watch the old-fashioned way, then." And with that the creature faded into dim vapor and entered Judai's body, the older man breathing in her essence with the utmost tenderness as his golden eyes briefly glowed both a deep azure and an intense orange. With the next blink however the irises had returned to their previous shade, and with another they faded into a murky brown, an effect that left him looking at least three times more human.

"You can call her a 'she,' by the way. I mean, she's technically a hermaphrodite and all that, but settling on feminine pronouns will make dealing with her a _lot_ easier in the long run," Judai said after a few moments, patting Yusei on the shoulder with an amused smile. "Sorry…I try not to read your mind too much, but when you're _that_ confused about what to call someone its pretty damn hard not to sense it."

"Err…who _is_ she, exactly?" Yusei asked awkwardly. "And for that matter, who are _you_? I'm afraid the name doesn't ring any bells."

"You really don't remember me?" Judai questioned bewilderedly. "Unless…ah, that must be it. But it can't be long now…you look exactly the same."

"I…have a feeling we're talking past each other, Judai-san," the spiky-haired duelist observed. "Can you start from the beginning?"

"Alright, I suppose you can't well help me with this if you don't have the basic background info," Judai acknowledged. "So here's the quick run-down: I am Judai Yuki, graduate of Duel Academia – class of 2007. Since then I've lacked anything remotely resembling a proper job description. That Duel Spirit you just met was Yubel, my personal guardian and lover. And finally, _you_ are Yusei Fudo, and are at most months away from going on a nice little temporal vacation and meeting me at the age of eighteen."

"Wait…time travel?" Yusei exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Oh c'mon, like it's_ any_ less believable than most of the stuff you get up to in _your_ spare time," quipped Judai, chuckling lightly. "Speaking of which, can I check out that neat birthmark thingy you've got on your forearm? You've caught me in a nostalgic mood today."

Without waiting for an answer Judai leaned over and examined the mark in question; the rip Sherry had torn in his jacket sleeve ensured that the head of the Akaki Ryu would always be resplendently in view.

"Sherry…" Yusei whispered, suddenly remembering the events that had preceded this chance encounter.

"Ah yeah, that really takes me back," the slender brunette declared with a grin of satisfaction. "It was definitely pretty cool to learn that the game of Duel Monsters would survive to 2029…not to mention that it would eventually be played on motorcycles!" Laughing at the thought, Judai then turned to the younger man and asked, "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I got separated from a couple of my…friends right before you rescued me from those bird-creatures," Yusei spoke gravely. "Would…it be possible for you to rescue them as well?"

"That depends," Judai answered carefully. "Gimme their physical descriptions and a rough approximation of their location, and I _might_ be able to fold them to our present location."

"Sherry is a slender blonde Frenchwoman, about my height and wearing a leather jacket and jeans," Yusei recalled. "Her companion Mizoguchi is a tall Japanese gentleman with gray hair and wearing a formal suit. I was separated from them about seven or eight blocks southward down this road."

"Got it," Judai uttered in a voice that did not appear to be quite all his own, the golden shade returning to his eyes in full force as he raised one hand commandingly in the direction Yusei had indicated. Several moments passed without effect before Judai reeled back, holding his head as if experiencing a splitting migraine. "Something's…blocking my sight around here," he grunted, wincing as he struggled to regain his balance. "And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd wager that it has mainly to do with the sheer amount of ambient negative darkness that's being dispersed by those ghouls…they've pushed out all room for the True Darkness to take root where it rightfully should."

"Err, sorry…but what are you talking about?" Yusei inquired, shaking his head in confusion.

"You felt its power for at least a brief moment when I used it to heal you," Judai explained. "In this Universe, there is both light and darkness – neither of which are inherently good or evil on their own. But in their purest forms they strike a perfect balance with each other, maintaining the harmony that allows for the formation of life. I am the human embodiment of the True Darkness, the void that fills the empty space of the Universe and permits its life to thrive; conversely, the Crimson Dragon that has granted you its sign is an agent of the True Light, which sparks that life in the first place. When they fall _out_ of balance, however, then both forces have the capability to descend into their negative extremes as they attempt to dominate and wipe out the other. The King of the Underworld, and the Earthbound Gods in turn, are formed from the corrosive power of the negative darkness, and as for the negative light…well, let's just say that it's not the sort of thing you want to end up meeting down a bright alleyway."

Taking a deep breath (for he had said all of this rather quickly), the older man then concluded, "My point is, so long as all of these agents of my negative equivalent roam free across Neo Domino, my range of powers is going to remain rather limited. I'm sorry about your friends, but I'm afraid there's not much I can do to help them from this distance…for the moment, at least."

"Well…in that case, what is it you need for me to assist you with?" Yusei pressed on, silently hoping that Sherry and Mizoguchi could make it on their own in the short term. Part of him was insisting vocally that he, as leader of the Signers, should drop everything immediately and go out searching for them – he had, after all, gotten them both roped into this whole mess in the first place – but he certainly owed this "Judai" fellow for saving his life, if nothing else. And it wasn't like the young woman and her bodyguard had exactly proven themselves incapable of handling danger…

"Alright, this one's probably going to take a little while to explain," Judai forewarned him. "So to start out with: what, if anything, do you know about an organization called the Arcadia Movement?"

[-]

Over three hours after they had returned to their bedroom the Dark King and Queen rolled apart from each other, exhausted from the constant expulsion of their respective bodily energies. Carly Nagisa was fairly certain that were the pair still alive, they would be covered head-to-toe with sweat and panting heavily by this point, but as it was the Dark Signers would have been ready to jump into battle at a moment's notice were they called upon to do so. On the whole the cessation of their extended period of intercourse had been less a matter of stamina and more one of practicality; Jack's wings, while perfectly useful for transportation, simply weren't built for the act of lovemaking, and their presence largely limited the number of unique positions the couple could employ on their canopy bed.

Regardless, however, Carly found that she did not mind in the slightest. The physical act in-and-of-itself remained wonderfully euphoric (though it definitely appeared as if their deaths had removed their respective capabilities for orgasm, if nothing else), but that was nothing compared to the _mental_ connection that remained intensely strong both throughout and immediately after sex. With the Dark Signers' minds melded as one Carly was able to call upon every memory laid across her husband's entire psyche, a reservoir of passion that the Dark Queen lapped up ravenously. In a demonstration of at least mild vanity she was finding that she particularly loved experiencing Jack's first memories of _her_ from his perspective, a shift that was allowing her to continuously squeal with delight as she sifted through the treasure trove of romantic (and admittedly, some rather unromantic) recollections.

Of course, this link worked both ways, and consequently Jack was finding himself experiencing flashes of memories that were not his own, mostly from the time that Carly had spent with the other Dark Signers prior to their fateful duel. Given her current preoccupations by far the most frequent subject of her remembrances was Misty Lola, and though Jack Atlas had never really met the gorgeous model in person he couldn't help but admire her when observing her past actions through Carly's eyes.

"I…understand now why you are so keen on avenging Misty Lola, my Dark Queen," Jack muttered; volume did not particularly matter while speaking to his wife in this state, given that she could sense the words being formed moments before he even spoke them. "It's strange, almost, that an emissary of Hell could muster up so much compassion for another being…but regardless, I cannot thank her enough for taking care of you until the night of my rebirth."

"Misty-san was the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, and I loved her like one," Carly told him, looking solemn. "Our shared history of loss drew her to me, and the bond we formed was entirely unique amongst all others that I have experienced in my lifetime. Have…you ever had a relationship like that, my beloved?" she added without thinking. A beat later she realized the full implications of what she had just asked and hastily stammering, "Wait, I didn't mean…"

"It's alright," the Dark King cut across her, shaking his head airily. Of course, this was patently false and Carly knew it, for dim thoughts of Team Satisfaction had been dancing in the back of Jack's mind ever since he had laid eyes on Kiryu Kyosuke's memorial room, only to be supplanted by the far more prescient matters of the Reaper and the condor's potential hidden agenda. But with the subject of surrogate siblings now floating in the air there was little else for Jack to contemplate upon other than the three young men he had once called "brother"…not that he had any clue how to really feel about them at the moment.

Which, in-and-of-itself, was the part that was scaring the Dark King the most.

"As much as I know that this entire affair is eventually going to come down to a final showdown with Yusei…I can't really say that I _hate_ him now the way I probably should," Jack confessed. "Crow's pretty much in the same bag. Those guys were my closest relations in all the years before I met you, my love, and lately I've been feeling almost as if I'd prefer to have a frank conversation with them before we bring this world to its ultimate end. Does…does that make _any_ sense?"

"From a purely objective standpoint, of course," Carly answered, stroking her husband's blond tresses. "But I'm not sure why you would be saying something like that _now_, honestly. After all, was it not but a short while ago that you ordered the capture of those very 'brothers' you mentioned, by any means necessary?"

"But I ordered them _alive_," Jack countered. "I was largely taking cues from my God at the time, and it…it didn't actually supply that part. So far as Wiraqocha Rasca is concerned, the hand by which the Signers die matters not, so long as they all suffer death's cold embrace sooner rather than later. But I…I really do think I need to speak to one or both of them before our climactic battle. There are so many issues whirling about in my mind that just _thinking_ of Yusei or Crow tends to elicit, and if I am to reign over this world as its High Ruler for all time then I find it imperative to deal with them before they grow insurmountable."

"I can understand that part, at least," the Dark Queen encouraged him, smiling faintly. "But in that case, what is it exactly that you'd wish to talk to your former teammates _about_?"

"I…" the Dark King began, but he was saved the obligation of having to respond to a question to which he had no answer by a sharp tug at the edge of his senses, so intense that even Carly could feel it by way of their mental link. "It looks like we're going to have to finish this discussion at a later point…perhaps while we are examining our holdings in Neo Domino in a few hours."

Sliding out of bed and willing new robes into existence across his muscular figure, he concluded, "But for now, our Reaper has returned to sow."

[-]

If pressed on the subject Crow Hogan would have been forced to admit that he had never actually constructed a D-Wheel from scratch before…so it was a damn good thing he didn't have to do so this time, either.

The machine shop that Crow had decided to commandeer featured a fairly wide assortment of disjointed parts, but it was clear that the mechanic who had managed it before this whole shitfest had started possessed at least a passing familiarity with D-Wheels. An entire empty frame was perched upon a stand for examination, as was an engine that the orange-haired teenager estimated would get the job done, though it might not be _quite_ as effective as the masterful piece of machinery that represented the final piece of Robert Pearson's legacy. Crow felt an intense pang at the stray thought of what his mentor would have thought of the way he had thrown away the Blackbird against that titanic creature, but he knew that he could not afford to preoccupy himself with guilt over the dead at this crucial juncture.

Not when he still had five _living_ souls depending on him getting the Hell out there as soon as humanly possible.

Unfortunately, while the barebones of the new motorcycle came together without much issue, Crow hit a rather large snag when it came to actually getting the damn thing up and running. Programming wasn't exactly his strong suit, to put it mildly; Pearson had custom-programmed his original D-Wheel far before Crow had ever laid eyes on it, and any adjustments that he had needed to make in the years since then had been handled by either Kiryu or Yusei, both of whom were simply more naturally adept to such tasks. And since a Momentum-powered engine was only going to operate properly with a decently sophisticated program installed, that was something of a problem.

Still working feverishly on the burst of adrenaline that had been shooting through his body since the moment he had awoken, Crow was trying his absolute hardest to pull something halfway-decent together with a laptop he had wired into the Momentum engine's central processor, but his success was proving to be decidedly limited. His anxiousness about his children's fates was certainly not helping in this regard, either; imagining with horrifying vividness the possibility of the King of the Underworld or its Hellish forces getting their hands on Kokoro, Taiga, Ginga, Daichi, and Hikari before he could made it exceedingly difficult to concentrate on confusing codes and diagrams upon a screen.

"Arghhh!" he bellowed in frustration, throwing a few random tools to the ground in a cacophonous clatter. "God, if only Yusei was here…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that none of us quite measure up to Yusei on our own in this area, but maybe if all _five_ of us take a stab at it?" came a voice from behind, and Crow looked over his shoulder to see a casually smiling Nerve Inoue, flanked to the side by Blitz Kozaki, Taka Fujita, and Rally Dawson. The latter was carrying a flash drive and making quite a spectacle of presenting it to the Signer, while the other three immediately began checking Crow's initial handiwork and making various minor adjustments to the rough skeleton.

"This is a copy Yusei made off of the program I…err…'borrowed' from Security a while back," the young boy explained. "It's been keeping Yusei's bike running fine for months now, so I'm sure it should work great for yours!"

"Wow…thanks a million, guys," said Crow, his eyes wide with gratitude as he inserted the drive into the computer and began loading the program, Rally standing by and watching excitedly. "I'm impressed that you managed to hold onto something like this throughout this entire mess."

"You know that Yusei always tries to keep himself as prepared as possible, 'specially when it comes to his D-Wheel," Taka grunted as he pumped air into Crow's rear tire. "He had this whole little library of files and programs that he left in our old base before he drove off to Neo Domino, and Rally managed to save a few of 'em when Security came calling by stuffing 'em down his socks."

A few moments passed in silence before Blitz changed the subject, asking, "So…why exactly are you making a new D-Wheel at a time like this anyway, Crow?"

"My kids, Blitz," Crow responded simply, tapping away at the keyboard as the program slowly installed itself into the new vehicle. "They're out there somewhere, helpless and alone, and I can't just sit back and let them fend for themselves any longer. If I can't protect them when true danger comes and rears its head, how do you expect me to live with calling myself their big brother?"

"Are…you sure you've thought this completely through, dude?" Nerve questioned tentatively as he tightened a bolt Crow had neglected in his haste. "I mean, you and this ramshackle D-Wheel alone against who-knows-how-many undead killers out there in the streets?"

"As a great man once said, never tell me the odds," Crow confidently recited. "You're talking to Crow the Bullet-sama, here…if I wanna get my kids outta that Hellhole, I'm damn sure gonna do it, and I don't envy any man or monster that tries to stop me."

"We understand that, Crow!" Blitz exclaimed, throwing up his hands defensively. "But well…look, the thing is, we're worried about you. Kiryu's dead, Jack's changed so much that he might as_ well_ be dead, and Yusei's headed off to parts unknown with no guarantee that he'll ever return, so…I guess, we just don't wanna risk losing another old friend so soon. Don't get me wrong, I get that we've been roped into some sorta War and the four of us are all pretty much destined to sit it out on the sidelines, but that's…that's hard to do, sometimes."

"He's right, you know," Rally chimed in, looking downcast. "I want Kokoro, Hikari, and the boys to get out of B.A.D. as much as anyone here, but lately it seems like you've become way too comfortable, like…flirting with death, or something. You can't help those kids very much if you're killed trying to search for them."

"So what is it exactly that you're suggesting I do instead, then?" Crow requested impatiently. "Because I'm telling ya right now, I am _not_ backing down from this rescue operation."

"I…uh…well, I dunno, really," Taka stuttered, shaking his head. "But there's just _gotta_ be a smarter way to go about this than to just rush in headfirst without a plan!"

"Sorry you guys, but there's only one 'plan' I need for this mission," Crow heatedly declared as the program finally finished its download and the rainbow-hued Momentum energy flared to life with a pump of the ignition. "And that's that I'm saving my fucking kids."

And with that said Crow slammed on his helmet and shot the Blackbird II out onto the streets of Satellite for its maiden ride, leaving his childhood friends staring agape at the abruptness of his departure.

[-]

The first God to make its appearance did so by way of a parting of the seas.

Heralded first by magnificent golden horns and then by more and more of his massive body, the Polar God King Thor (for that was what Ruka knew to be his true name, though she had no idea as to _why_, other than a general sense that the deity's power was so great that he was above anything so petty as an introduction) rose from the depths of the Atlantic, the waters amassing into broad walls on either side of his divine form simply to make room. The thunder, meanwhile, continued to crash sonorously across the dark skies, sharp winds causing Thor's cape to billow and sway with the utmost dignity, until finally the storm's intensity reached a fever pitch and erupted into several simultaneous bolts of lightning, all of which soon coalesced within Thor's enormous palm into a solid shape: the war-hammer Mjölnir.

The next God literally tore a hole in the fabric of space and time in order to inject himself into the Earthly plane. The slit in the barriers of reality started out small, but soon enough the broad hands of the Polar God King Loki reached out from the verdant cosmos that Ruka could only assume was a minor peek at the holy world of Asgard and wrenched the fissure wide-open, allowing the divine trickster to float gracefully toward his fellow member of the Æsir, a mad grin etched across his bearded countenance.

And finally, in a display of such incredible majesty that it utterly defied description, the ultimate God of the Norse pantheon set aside the very heavens themselves in the course of his entrance. The Polar God Sacred Emperor Odin required none of the pomp-and-circumstance of his peers; rather, all of _existence_ seemed to come to a standstill for the express purpose of Odin being allowed to descend from the tumultuous skies, carrying his celestial body with the grace befitting the All-Father of over one thousand years of mythological tradition. And when he hovered downward to touch upon the same plane on which Thor and Loki currently resided, the Lord of the Æsir made it eminently clear just why he was ranked so far above them in their legendary tradition, dwarfing them both by a factor of at least two-to-one as he raised one bare hand to the sky and called down a golden staff of shining radiance, one which Ruka was fairly sure exceeded the height of even the greatest skyscraper on Earth.

The young Signer's abject awe at the emergence of the three Nordic deities was clearly not matched by their common enemy, however, as the King of the Underworld observed this wondrous display with a distinct expression of utter indifference, not even staring directly into the Gods' divine eyes as it slowly regarded them, presumably to ascertain what threat, if any, they might pose to it. Seconds ticked by as this strange stalemate perpetuated itself, Ruka and her remaining spirits all frozen in panicked anticipation, before the King suddenly let loose a nightmarish roar and charged.

Ruka considered it incredibly fortunate that the mysterious owners of the impossibly positioned aircraft had decided to hold this battle in the middle of the ocean, for if it were to have taken place on land it would surely have leveled entire cities in its sheer ferocity. The King of the Underworld had already proven itself to be a veritable engine of devastation back in both Japan and America, but what shocked the green-haired girl the most was how swiftly it was able to move as it struck against the opposing Gods with every ounce of its destructive might. Largely it facilitated this by transforming the claws at the end of its titanic limbs into enormous puddles of grayish slime, skimming along the surface of the waves like some absurd exaggeration of a water-skier. But although this method of propulsion looked somewhat silly at first glance, Ruka couldn't really deny its effectiveness, given that the monster was now literally running circles around its enemies, blasting them with an endless barrage of dark energy and Hellfire as it skated rapidly across the turbulent waters.

The Polar Gods however, particularly Odin, appeared to be taking the brunt of these attacks completely in stride. Indeed, the only way in which they appeared to even be _acknowledging_ their presence at all was to break formation, Odin remaining at the epicenter of their place of descent while Thor and Loki took positions flanking the abomination on either side. Then, in one fluid group motion, all three deities raised their weapons (or in Loki's case, two fingers) aloft, and with a great cry and a burst of multicolored energy from the enigmatic airplane the Gods proceeded to fire upon their grotesque target.

It was Mjölnir that connected first, bringing with it a crackling fork of lightning that engulfed the entirety of the King's pulsating form. Rather than directly damaging the beast however the electricity seemed to paralyze it completely, allowing the war-hammer to collide cleanly with its broad torso and gouge a great hole into it. Evidently not satisfied with this single blow, Thor then proceeded to gather a long arc of the heavenly lightning and channel it into Mjölnir, which was set ablaze with dark flames not unlike those that the King of the Underworld had been spewing moments beforehand, affording it even greater potency as it continued to pummel the Hellish creature. Ruka had only just enough time to register that the God of Thunder had somehow managed to _steal_ some of the King's boundless power before the divine beast unexpectedly backed off, permitting his brother a turn at delivering the demon its well-deserved beatdown.

Loki's attack had evidently taken a far greater time to both charge and unleash, but as soon as it struck its mark it became clear that the short wait had been entirely worth it. The divine sorcerer's firing stance was almost casual, bending one arm against his hip while the other made a mock-"gun" gesture with the forefinger, middle finger, and thumb, but the result was anything but. Pure shadow became focused in a single, concentrated sphere, one which pierced the King's oozing carapace with ease and blew a gaping hole straight through to the other end. As he was still hovering in the same relaxed stance the Trickster God apparently felt it appropriate to follow up on this assault with a veritable battery of smaller blasts, each of which tore away large sections of slime from the monster's body until it was barely more than a skeleton, writhing and thrashing about as it struggled desperately to even hold itself together.

But Odin, floating as imperiously as ever precisely where he had first materialized upon the mortal plane, seemed to consider allowing even survival to be far too generous a punishment for the mass-murdering beast. And so, in chillingly perpetual silence the ultimate arbiter of ancient justice raised his staff, the spear of judgment Gungnir, and struck it with unswaying accuracy into what remained of the King of the Underworld, before the holy light inherent within the divine metal reached its peak and, in a gloriously beautiful release of consecrated energy, exploded the physical devil into a million pieces.

Ruka spent the next several minutes absolutely unable to believe what her eyes had just witnessed, while simultaneously the hovering jet moved to touch down upon the surface of the ocean, directly at the feet of the Gods that its owners had summoned for the express purpose of slaying that which was unkillable by mortal hands.

The airplane ultimately landed only about ten yards or so from the position of the incorporeal trio, so the young Signer had ample opportunity to observe the three men who were currently exiting the private vehicle through a hatch in the roof, laughing and whooping in victory as they did. "We did it…we fucking did it!" one of them – a casually dressed redhead – screamed ecstatically, emphasizing his point by doing some sort of impromptu jig along one of the plane's wings. "This is gonna have to be one for the record books – the first act of deicide ever pulled off in human history!"

"That would depend on which stories of antiquity you consider to possess some grain of truth, Brave," the silver-haired man at the head of their formation equivocated, though even his stoic features were clearly on the verge of matching his fellow's gleeful grin. "For example, certain versions of the Greek myths depict the Harvest God Cronus as having murdered his father Uranus in order to depose him from the throne of Olympus, with Cronus' own son Zeus ultimately returning the favor. And of course, Osiris' death at the hands of his brother Set is key to the Egyptians' conception of the afterlife, as it permitted him to function as God of the Underworld from thence onward."

"Spare us the lecture, Harald," the last man admonished, clapping him across the shoulder. "Brave's right to celebrate – we won the day, and didn't have to deal with any consequences worse than a mildly bad oil spill!"

"Perhaps, Dragan…perhaps," the one named Harald stated neutrally, pausing to examine a glob of the grayish goo that had been left in the aftermath of the explosion. "But now that you mention it, doesn't it seem like that victory came a little too…easily?"

"Eh, you worry too much," Brave retorted with a sharp laugh. "We came at that thing with the full might of three Gods from the very beginning; the bastard didn't stand a snowball's chance in Helheim."

"All the same, I think it prudent for me to collect a few samples for later analysis," Harald insisted, before reopening the hatch and calmly ordering an unseen figure, "Please bring me my rudimentary forensics equipment, Sebastian." Moments later a mustached man poked his head out into the air and handed Harald the requested materials, with which he immediately got to work scraping off bits of floating slime into various jars and fluid bags. He was prevented from taking any steps beyond that, however, by his personal God signaling his attention by way of an unfathomable glint in his single remaining eye, one which was strangely reproduced in Harald's own left cornea in the form of some sort of arcane rune. "What is it, my Lord?" he beseeched expectantly, the cerulean rune blazing with power…and for some inexplicable reason, provoking a similar reaction from Ruka's own mark.

And then slowly, with conviction, the All-Father of the Æsir spoke. The voice was low and rumbling, resonating with such incredible intensity and authority that he needed but utter a single word to convey his meaning. And that word, spoken as Odin suddenly directed his attention to the three non-divine spirits pervading the local aether, was, "Signer."

Immediately the human trio (for the one called Sebastian had already returned to the plane's interior, presumably to store the samples that Harald had so far managed to gather of the King of the Underworld's residue) turned straight toward Regulus, Ancient Fairy Dragon, and Ruka's astral form…and in a rather more unnerving move, so did Thor and Loki. With eleven eyes bearing down upon her – five of which belonged to physical Gods – Ruka's vague questions over whom she was _actually_ visible to while traversing the spiritual plane fell fairly flat. The Æsir could absolutely detect her presence, there was no doubt about that, and with the help of those mysterious runes (for all three young men now had the strange things burning across their irises) the humans appeared to be on roughly the same level. This was further driven home by Harald calmly addressing them with, "Young Signer and Spirit Partners, please approach. I would like to speak to you about how you came to be at this location."

Ruka turned to Ancient Fairy Dragon, who nodded tentatively but gestured something roughly akin to a warning not to let her guard down. Regulus, meanwhile, stayed out in front of both of them, growling low as Ruka cautiously did as she was bid and made her way closer to Harald and his teammates.

"State your name, your Duel Spirits' names, and any other biographical information you find immediately pertinent, young Signer," the silver-haired duelist commanded, such power underlying every syllable of his words that it did not occur for a second for her to disobey.

"M…My name is Ruka, sir," she stated nervously. "I am ten years old and a privately tutored student from Neo Domino City. My spirits here are known as Regulus and Ancient Fairy Dragon."

"I see…" Harald said, his voice softening a little. This effect was particularly noticeable in his accent, which had been harsh and rough while he was conversing with his fellow foreigners moments prior but which now was nearly as smooth and practiced as a native speaker's. "Well Ruka, the three of us are a pro-dueling team from Norway known as Team Ragnarök, venturing toward your city of origin in order to set right what has gone so severely wrong. I am Harald Ledberg, and these are my teammates – Brave Gosforth and Dragan Thorwald. And as for our, ahem, 'little friends' here…well, perhaps you recognize them?"

"Odin…" she whispered, turning her gaze up at the gargantuan figures still towering above them, like giants observing the clicking conversations of ants. "Thor…Loki…"

"Ah…very well, then. I see that no introductions are necessary for someone of your…supernatural persuasion, little girl," Harald mused. "In that case, I would kindly like you to explain how a Signer and a couple of spirits ended up projecting their essences all the way out here. I very much doubt that your presence here, at the stage of one of the most climactic battles between the forces of good and evil this world has ever seen, is a complete coincidence."

"Well no, I…hold on," Ruka paused, realizing something. "How do you know about the Signers, Harald-sama?" She didn't bother asking _how_ he was able to deduce her identity as a Signer (after all, in the presence of the trio's runic eyes her own mark was burning with rather insistent intensity, and in any event she _was_ currently accompanied by her own Signer Dragon), but of course only a few people on Earth were actually aware of the significance of those clues, and Ruka had not been counting on these enigmatic Norwegians being among them.

"We have made it our business to know these sorts of things," Harald responded shortly, now sounding a little annoyed. "We are the guardians of the most supreme Gods of any extant pantheon, and so it is our solemn duty to ensure that the spiritual world remains firmly in balance…by any means necessary. That was why we traveled this great distance to put a stop to that wretched demon, and it is why I demand you answer this question now."

"Back off, _human_," Regulus snarled, again asserting himself in front of his master and her chosen herald. "There is no need to take that sort of tone with Ruka-chan."

"It's alright, Regulus," Ruka told him carefully, patting him reassuringly across the snout, before replying to Harald with, "I am here for much the same reasons that you three are. The Signers have been attempting to defeat the King of the Underworld ever since it first appeared, and I detached my soul from my body so that I could track its location after it slaughtered several dozen Duel Spirits on an island in the Pacific Ocean. But as your Gods appear to have solved the problem on their own, I extend you our humblest gratitude on behalf of my fellows, and will depart without any further issue."

It was, Ruka thought, a perfectly polite and diplomatic way to quickly resolve the situation; while outwardly kind, Harald's voice had an odd silkiness to it that was not exactly putting the green-haired girl at ease, and the anxious look upon the comparatively jovial Brave's face as his leader stared unflinchingly into her golden eyes wasn't helping. Given this – and the fact that her mission here had essentially become redundant by this point – she figured that it was probably best for her to get the heck out of there as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, Harald did not seem to see it that way. "I am not entirely convinced of your sincerity, but that is immaterial at the moment," he declared coldly. "Rather, I beseech a higher power."

Then, without further warning, he stared skyward and entreated sonorously, "Odin, All-Father of the Æsir, flawless administrator of divine justice!" Majestically the enormous God poised his rod at the appeal from his Earthly agent as he readied himself for the imploration that followed, one that numbered two deathly dangerous words, each enunciated so gravely that the effect sent chills down Ruka's physical spine – directly on the opposite side of the world.

"Judge her."

[-]

"Err…not to be a spoilsport or anything, guys, but what exactly are we looking at here?" Jin Himuro asked seriously, jarring Breo Athos and Leo Laruto from their complete enrapturement as the comprehensive data of nearly two decades' worth of Public Security Maintenance Bureau covert surveillance appeared before them, courtesy of Soichi Kazama's categorical goldmine of a flash drive having been plugged directly into _Always_' mainframe.

"Oops…sorry, dude!" Leo responded, laughing and grinning bashfully. "I guess this stuff _is_ pretty technical in its raw form."

"Well, can you just break it down a little bit for those of us who _didn't_ attend some fancy foreign university?" the blue-haired duelist went on. "All I'm seeing are giant clusters of incomprehensible computer jargon."

"To make a long story short, it appears as if every criminal marker is designed to emit regular signals coded to a specific, wholly unique frequency," Breo explained. "Currently we're looking at the signal history for Yusei Fudo's mark, coded 'JV-1862.' Looks like the most pertinent piece of data attached to each entry in this log are map coordinates, although we'd have to use some separate software in order to get a visual representation of what those really mean. Leo, would the program you used to display the range of the Duel Network signal work for this?"

"Probably…gimme a second to check," Leo replied, once again all business as he brought up the program in question and made some inputs. "Hmm…according to the most recent info we've got here, which dates back to last night, Yusei is…smack-dab in the middle of Paris!"

"Paris? Well, I hope that sonny at least has the decency to bring back some souvenirs from the City of Lights!" Tenzen Yanagi exclaimed. "Haven't really had the chance to head to Europe for years, what with my bad back and everything…"

"Umm…why would that guy be in France in the first place?" Stephanie Bloomsdale questioned, carrying a tray of sandwiches and a fresh bottle of painkillers for Kazama, who was largely sitting to the sidelines and resting unless called upon to give technical information about Security. Somewhat weakly, he nodded his agreement to Stephanie's objection.

"Could be a lot of reasons – but it's clear he wasn't just fleeing all the chaos that's going on right now, since the very last transmission pegs him as en-route back to Japan…or at least it _looks_ like that's where he's heading," Breo analyzed.

"That's all we can get, though?" Himuro queried, an eyebrow raised skeptically. "I mean, don't get me wrong, this _could_ be useful information in the future, but I thought the point was to, y'know, _find_ Yusei."

"Like Breo said, this stuff here is just a record of previously catalogued marker signals," Soichi Kazama offered as he helped himself to a sandwich. "Special Investigations-level criminal marks are designed to transmit their wearers' coordinates once every two minutes, but there hasn't been a mainframe to collect the incoming data since those ghouls attacked headquarters. Of course, I've got the data necessary to set up a new receiver for those signals right here _also_ loaded onto the drive, but implementing it is gonna take a level of technical know-how that I can't really help you all with."

"Well, we'll see what _we_ can do," Leo declared, tapping rapidly across the keyboard. "This whole thing may not be _quite_ clock-related, but it's close enough that I think I know what I'm doing here fairly well. It's gonna take a bit of time, though."

"Well, that's…something," Jin said, shaking his head. "So…what about the other guy you mentioned? That dude who lives next to your mom?"

"He's proving a bit harder to pull up data for," Breo answered, still scanning the confused jumble of numbers and letters denoting the last recorded locations of every criminal or former criminal ever arrested in Neo Domino. "Yusei was at the top of Security's tracking list, since the crime he went in for was both high-profile and fairly unique – escaping from the Satellite. But according to Leo, this 'Dojima' was arrested for petty theft, so he's buried pretty deep in the database."

A few more awkward moments passed as Breo and Leo sank back into their work, Himuro beginning to wonder vaguely why Jean had assigned so many people to what was clearly no more than a three-person job. Sighing low, the muscular duelist began fidgeting tetchily – he hadn't really been comfortable staying still for even seconds at a time since getting out of the joint himself, as remaining in one place for any length inevitably reminded him of all those nights in solitary, spent pacing up and down a pitch-black cell and experiencing the soul-crushing agony of ceaseless monotony…

Before Jin could form some way of articulating this to the two utterly engrossed blond geniuses (or more likely, to Yanagi; despite the old man's…quirks, there was definitely an unspoken sense of confidence between the two former jailbirds), however, Leo cried, "_Eureka!_" in a drastically overdramatic fashion, attracting their collective attention instantly. "I think I've got it…looks like Yusei's back in Satellite!"

There was a general uproar of approval at this, Breo clapping his compatriot on the shoulder and Stephanie offering him a sandwich, which he took and wolfed down with a grin. Then, turning back to the screen now flashing a rough diagram of the Satellite (no concrete maps of the island-sized ghetto existed to their general knowledge, and even if one did it certainly wouldn't have recorded all the devastating alterations that creature had recently wrought), he further informed them, "From what I can tell, I think Yusei's out in a main street…closest thing the Satellite has to a business district. But he's moving slowly down the road, and…wait, what the fuck?"

For the blinking dot that represented Yusei's most recently transmitted location had suddenly up-and-decided to disappear, and Leo spent several anxious seconds rerunning the program Kazama had provided him before another map showed up, this one far more detailed: the downtown districts of Neo Domino City.

"What's going on here?" Breo asked tensely, dropping his own operation for the moment to scrutinize the screen's rather sudden change. "How did Yusei jump several dozen kilometers…in less than two minutes?"

"No idea, dude," Leo responded bewilderedly, unconsciously adjusting his bandana as he too pondered the readings. "I dunno, maybe the first signal was buggy or something…but he's definitely in Neo Domino right now. I've never really been in the city proper much, though, so anyone more knowledgeable got any clue what this area is? It's actually not that far from where we are right now."

"It's a part of downtown I try to avoid as much as possible," Stephanie promptly offered up, shuddering involuntarily. "I recognize some of the buildings there because they're right next to the store I do most of my grocery shopping at…but I've never gone out any farther than that, mostly due to the place that used to be right…err, here."

Pointing to a particular square in the gridline map, very close to where Yusei now appeared to be, she added, "It was this super-creepy skyscraper that was housing some weird cult, or something…that's what one of my friends always said, anyway. Though the whole block was burnt to ashes by that huge fire a month ago, so I'm not sure it really has anything to do with what's going on now…"

"The Arcadia Movement," Himuro realized out-loud, the scattered pieces of this convoluted puzzle finally starting to come together – at least a little bit – within his head. "No, Stephanie-san…there's no way in Hell this is a coincidence. If Yusei's poking around the ruins of the Arcadia Building, he's gotta have a damn good reason for doing it."

"Err…can you catch me up on that term?" Breo requested, frowning thoughtfully. "I'm almost certain you mentioned the name 'Arcadia' during the meeting at some point, but could you just give me a quick refresher?"

"Given how much information we've all had to absorb today, I definitely can't blame you for forgetting a couple details," Jin replied, his tone sympathetic. "Alright, in a nutshell, the Arcadia Movement was this training facility for militant psychics run by this manipulative piece of shit named Divine. He took in vulnerable young people with incredible powers – including Aki-san, Senator Izayoi's Signer daughter – and trained them into his own little private super-soldiers…up until his karma came back to bite him in the ass, in the form of the Dark Signers. Their building served as the first real battleground those guys staked out in the city; that 'fire' Stephanie mentioned was just the cover story the media used to explain all the damage."

"But then why would Yusei be hanging out 'round there, sonny?" Yanagi questioned, scratching his chin confusedly. "I mean, that tower and everything around it went down quicker than Hermes riding the breath of Aeolus!"

"Well, the rubble still hasn't been completely cleaned up…Security's been quite busy lately," Kazama informed them as he gulped down a few pills. "So I don't doubt that someone who knows what they're looking for might be able to locate some pretty useful stuff in the ruins."

"Well, here's my question…what're we gonna do about it?" Leo interjected. "I mean, I really doubt we're ever gonna get a better shot at contacting Yusei in-person, but that'd require someone ballsy enough to go back out there and face those zombies for about a dozen blocks."

"I'll go," Jin Himuro volunteered immediately, already standing up out of his seat. "That way you geniuses can stay here and try and make headway on this whole Dojima thing. Although…well, it'd definitely help if I could borrow one of your bikes, or something."

"Err…I guess you can use mine," Breo said with a furrowed brow, reaching into his pocket and then tossing the bulkier man his keys. "Be careful out there, though, and if you run into any of those ghouls you can use the blue button on the ignition handle to activate the electric feedback generator and fry them to smithereens."

"And when yeh see him, make sure to tell Yusei 'hi' from his mentor! Oh, and ask him how my _Totem Pole_ is workin' out for him!" Tenzen Yanagi exclaimed happily; evidently, there was absolutely no doubt in the elderly archaeologist's mind that Himuro would return with Yusei safely in-tow, probably with Jack defeated and a steaming batch of celebratory cupcakes before the setting of the sun. If nothing else, Jin definitely had to admire the old man for his optimism in the face of what was more-or-less the Apocalypse.

"Will do, gramps, will do," Himuro returned, waving farewell to the remainder of his recently acquired teammates and trying to maintain a similar frame of mind to his fellow ex-convict as the imminent prospect of exiting this sane, secure safehouse began to make him feel rather queasy.

"Well, I did say to myself that I needed to get out and do _something_," Jin Himuro muttered, adjourning to _Always_' enormous garage, sitting himself upon Breo's ornate D-Wheel, and feeling the familiar rumble of an engine burst to life beneath him.

[-]

Folding through their current dimension, even in order to travel the relatively short distance between the Satellite and the downtown area of Neo Domino City, by way of Judai's weakened but still amazingly formidable powers was…well, it was an experience, to say the least.

Passing through the pool of infinite darkness that the enigmatic man seemed able to conjure up as naturally as Yusei could breathe, though his higher mind could tell took only a few seconds, nevertheless still felt like a slog of decades for the purposes of his outward senses. Judai had advised him that keeping his eyes closed would probably make the journey a lot easier to cope with, but the temptation to have a quick peak at their inky black surroundings had been far too alluring to pass up. The consequence, so far as the Signer leader could tell, would have been complete and utter madness had his mark not glowed and shielded his eyes just in time.

In any event, however, Judai appeared not to be aware of Yusei's rather grave state of mind as he casually stepped out of the portal himself, levitating Yusei's D-Wheel with a couple of fingers and off-handedly correcting the brief description of the Arcadia Movement he had been given right before the duo had folded over to its former location. "Actually, this 'Divine' guy was just the leader of Arcadia, not its founder," Judai informed him, snapping his fingers to dispel the small rip in space-time. "And it definitely didn't start out anything like how you're telling me. A couple old friends of mine, Takuma and Mizuchi Saiou, originally formed it in 2008 as a home for wayward psychics, sorta like a boarding school. The kid who grew up to become Divine was one of their first students, and I remember that he rose up through the ranks of the organization fairly quickly, so it doesn't surprise me that he eventually took over leadership…but what you just told me is way, _way_ beyond what I could've imagined."

"What…err…happened to those two, then?" Yusei asked, not looking forward to hearing the answer. If Divine had really needed to usurp power of Arcadia from its originally noble purpose, there was absolutely no way that he had done so diplomatically…

"That's what we're here to find out," Judai replied distantly, now examining the enormous pile of rubble and making strange motions with his hands, as if to try and locate something.

It was rather strange to bear witness to the remains of the Arcadia Building now that the Jibakushin were done with it; while he had never actually observed the Movement's headquarters in person, having been recovering in Satellite at the time that it fell, his mental image nonetheless had been of gleaming opulence and unceasing formality, like the crisp-suited man who had headed its operations. And though Yusei supposed it was perfectly possible that the towering skyscraper had possessed those traits while it still stood, it was still quite jarring to see the birthplace of Divine's grandiose ambitions as nothing more than a scorched pile of stone and steel, still surrounded on all sides by the faint outlines of the crisscrossing lizard and hummingbird.

Indeed, now that Yusei was looking around more fully, the entire city block seemed to be razed to the ground, even moreso than the rest of Neo Domino. Dimly he bent down and ran his gloved hand across the laylines where the burning geoglyphs had asserted themselves a month prior, his own mark flickering slightly as he did. If nothing else, the barren earth served as a potent reminder of what was at stake here…and gave Yusei an implacable desire to go out and get something tangible done. Here, he had a potentially fantastic new ally – and he would have two more, as soon as he was free to track down Sherry and Mizoguchi again – but in the midst of all this chaos he knew that he had spent far too much time away from his team, and that he'd need to unite all of the forces at their disposal in order for the legacy of the Earthbound Gods to be ended forever.

"Hmm…right here, definitely," Judai declared to himself, pulling Yusei out of his reverie. The older man, his eyes blazing gold once more, was waving a palm back-and-forth above a particular section of rubble, small disturbances in the air appearing as he did. "There's no way that there could be _this_ many lingering traces of protective wards at this spot unless something like a prison cell was erected here…a prison cell for a supremely powerful psychic. Shit, Saiou, I'm sorry I couldn't act sooner…but you called me here, somehow, so let's find out why."

And then, with a massive outburst of his shadowy power, Judai rent open a large crater in the ruins below, a violently putrid smell greeting them as soon as he did. Rushing forward to see what the source was, Yusei peered into the hole and immediately had to force back vomit.

A man's corpse, presumably that of Takuma Saiou, lay crushed underneath the jagged stones, rotting away to the bone in every section of the body which had escaped immediate pulverization. The face was utterly unrecognizable, but waist-length azure hair lay matted along the cadaver, coated here-and-there with dried blood, and one arm was folded across his decomposing chest, several small objects curled tightly in his skeletal fist. It was these objects that Judai was turning his attention to, slowly levitating them toward him even as he visibly fought back tears in his eyes, once again returned to their original murky brown.

"Tarot cards?" he whispered in amazement, turning the tiny things over in his hand. "Crude, makeshift tarot cards…probably gouged out of the prison walls over the course of years and years…Gods, Saiou, I almost gotta laugh at how fucking incredible you were, even to the very end…"

Swallowing hard as he sat down upon a particularly large piece of the surviving foundation, he then turned to Yusei and added, "Well, this explains everything, at least. Maybe not exactly in the way I'd hoped, but…"

Judai petered off for a moment at this point, shaking his head mournfully, and wordlessly Yusei sat down next to him, placing a comforting hand on the older man's arm as he began to weep silently. Several minutes passed as the two heroes sat alone in the barren, empty wasteland, Judai Yuki crying in the pained but reserved fashion of a someone who had dealt with incidences like this more times than he could count.

Eventually, however, the tranquil air of quiet grief was broken by Yusei involuntarily exclaiming "Ow!" and rubbing his cheek, which felt vaguely like it had just been stung. A similar sensation had struck him at one point back in the Satellite, just before he had followed Judai through the rift, but the Signer had dismissed it as nothing in the wake of rather more pressing concerns. Perhaps his criminal marker was somehow acting up? It had, after all, been placed there by a rather painful laser…

"What's wrong?" Judai asked after a moment, now wiping his eyes.

"Nothing really, Judai-san," Yusei assured him quickly, deciding to put the matter of his facial mark out of mind for the moment. Deciding to use the question to segue back into business, however, he then added, "So…could you explain to me exactly what those little stone cards mean?"

"Yeah, I guess I've been keeping you waiting for more than enough time," Judai responded with a short nod. "Alright, let's start from the beginning. Once, there was a young boy named Takuma Saiou who was born with fantastical powers; his younger sister Mizuchi, who came along a couple years later, followed suit. But the Saiou family was deeply religious, and they feared and mistrusted their children's gifts, believing them to be possessed by wicked spirits. And that is how, at a very young age, both siblings ended up on the streets, forced to fend for themselves to survive.

"Now, do you remember that negative light stuff I mentioned earlier?" he queried, to which Yusei nodded. "Well, back then we called it the Light of Ruin, and it was…well, it was some pretty nasty shit. It prayed on the most sinister impulses within people's hearts, and unfortunately Saiou's resentment toward the rest of the world for how they had shunned and rejected them made him a perfect target for its influence. The Light entered him when he was a very young man and nearly forced him to obliterate the Earth with a weapon of mass destruction, but thanks to my friends and I the Light was purged from his body and the crisis was averted at the last second."

Turning back to his old friend's remains, Judai then went on, "After that, Saiou felt so guilty, so desperate to repent, that he and his sister decided to start up a society where psychics like them would be given a true home; a place where they could finally feel love and acceptance. Back then I was traveling the world – or _worlds_, I should really say – but this goal was so laudable that I stuck around Domino for weeks trying to promote the organization. We didn't really speak much after the grand opening, though…he was incredibly busy, and I was…well, let's just say that I out of town most of the year."

"So you never knew that Divine took over the Arcadia Movement?" Yusei questioned.

"Hell, before you told me about him today I didn't even know he was _calling_ himself 'Divine,'" he clarified. "I only figured out who you were talking about because I'd recognize that douchey hairstyle you described from a mile away. But he was like…fourteen, maybe, when I last saw him, so all this sick stuff you're telling me now is completely new. As you can see, I didn't even know for sure that Saiou was dead until today, though I roughly suspected it."

"So why exactly did you try and track him down _now_, of all times?" Yusei asked, now itching to get to the crux of the matter. He had the general sense, now, that they weren't too far from it.

"I was getting to that," Judai answered, still absently playing around with the tiny stone cards. "Just over one month ago, while I was out doing some exploring on the west coast of Africa, I felt a strong pull across the mystical aether, reaching all the way back to what was unmistakably Saiou's psychic signature. Saiou had an incredibly heightened ability to predict the events of the future, even amongst fellow clairvoyants, and he tended to channel those abilities through the medium of tarot cards. This card here, _The Fool_…this was my card, the one that he used to gain some sense over what path I would carve along the road of destiny. So when he invoked it in that reading – likely the very last one he made in his life – I could feel it intimately.

"But more to the point," he went on, "I also experienced a connection toward two other figures through that final reading; Saiou appears to have been divining something related to the heroes fate has selected in recent times to exact its will, and these sorts of things always seem to come in threes. The first one, represented by this card, _Judgment_, was none other than the legendary Yugi Muto himself. And yes, that does indeed mean that he's alive, though I haven't been able to locate him as of yet," he appended, preempting Yusei's question. "All I know is that if someone like Yugi-san doesn't _want_ to be found, there's very little anyone can do about it. So that left me with the person represented by the final card of this array, _The Star_…which of course is you, Yusei Fudo."

"So…that's how you managed to track me down, then?" Yusei surmised, now scrutinizing the small slab of rock that apparently represented his role in the wider schema of the mystical world.

"And how I knew I could trust you," Judai told him, now smiling slightly. "A person represented by an upright _Star_ is a rare thing to find in this world; someone whose unflinching sense of hope and optimism draws together men and women from all walks of life, like a singular beacon of purity and warmth shining against an everlasting night. Direct opposites we may be, as avatars of the darkness and of the light, but if Saiou's powers were to be believed – and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt them now – then the two of us are far more alike than we are different."

"Thank you, Judai-san," said Yusei, a bit bashfully. This was incredibly high praise (not only was Judai comparing the Signer leader quite favorably to himself, but _also_ to the illustrious King of Games!), but given the situation he wasn't entirely certain he deserved it. "Err…don't take this the wrong way, sir, but why exactly did you need help for this in the first place? You seem to have found this place just fine on your own."

"Do you think my only purpose here was to check up on an old friend?" Judai posed, an eyebrow raised. "No, Saiou's reading only served as the impetus for me to finally get my butt in gear and rejoin the good fight…which was a damn good thing too, given all the shit that's going on right now. The King of the Underworld and the Earthbound Gods are the single worst threat to the material and spiritual worlds since I took down the pure embodiment of negative Darkness over twenty years ago, and I'll need all the assistance I can get in taking them out. I've already begun recruiting a few of my old school buddies, who made a final stand at Academia Island when the King attacked it. They're currently hiding out in a timeless pocket dimension, though I'll be letting them out once I get back under cover.

"As such, this mission was twofold – to potentially track down Takuma and Mizuchi and rally them to the cause, and to make you and your own team aware of my presence," Judai concluded. "I'm gonna have to leave pretty soon – the Saious are gonna need a proper burial, and I just can't leave their bodies desecrated like this – but I'll be keeping tabs on you, Yusei, and will be rejoining your forces as soon as my own reinforcements are ready."

Judai Yuki then set about tracing the location of what must have been Mizuchi's cell in the same manner as he had with her brother's, splitting it open and then levitating the bloody cadavers with the utmost care onto the level ground. Yusei averted his eyes as the mutilated bodies came into the light, while Judai made a grand motion with his other hand and opened a new portal of purest shadow, its destination unknown. Before the older man could proceed through it, however, Yusei cried out, "Wait! How am I supposed to get back to the Satellite?"

"Hmm…have any of your friends spent a significant amount of time at this location in the past?" Judai inquired, standing at the threshold of the rift with the tenderly folded corpses of the Saiou siblings held tight in his telekinetic grip. "I could follow that connection and fold you back to their current whereabouts, especially if they have a particularly strong mental or emotional signature relating to you."

"Well…my friend, Aki Izayoi, spent a few years with the Arcadia Movement, training her own psychic powers," Yusei answered easily. "I think that she would be your best bet for something like this."

"You know the drill, then," Judai declared, pointing a palm at Yusei's D-Wheel. "Gimme a physical description, and I'll try and channel a one-way spatial fold to her through your motorcycle. If she's a psychic herself, her own powers might even be able to compensate for the weakening of mine."

"Aki-san's hair is roughly magenta, with almond-shaped amber eyes and a small face," Yusei proffered. "She tends to wear a red-and-white Victorian-style dress and black stockings."

"Alright, let's give it a whirl," Judai pronounced, sending a blast of darkness at the bike that immediately peaked and dissipated. Judai seemed almost stunned by this, clearing his throat awkwardly and then adding, "Wow, that is easily the quickest emotional connection I have _ever_ managed to facilitate. This girl must really, really want you to return to her…that always makes things easier."

"Th…Thank you, Judai-san," Yusei said graciously, bowing low. "I…hope to see you again soon."

At this Judai Yuki finally gave the first laugh he had indulged in since they had arrived in Neo Domino City, before turning back toward the portal and departing from the present plane with an emphatic, "Don't worry, dude…you will!"

[-]

"We bid you enter," Jack Atlas requested imperiously as both he and Carly entered the room and took their seats upon their ornate thrones. Dutifully the zombies manning the enormous front doors grasped their golden handles and tugged open a crack large enough for the Reaper and his gathered forces to slip into the chamber, lining up in perfect formation and prostrating themselves at their gatherer's cue.

"An…interesting assemblage," he appraised skeptically, waving for the seven figures to rise to their feet. "Declare yourselves."

"I am Nicolas Verbrechen, my Lord," Nicolas began. "A scion of crime families from both Germany and Japan, and until today, the leader of the duel gang Team Catastrophe."

"Barbara Vasquez, sir," Barbara asserted right afterward, stroking her whip fondly. "Professional smuggler of small arms and other contraband, and also a former supplier of…err…'special' services."

"Frank…heh heh…Adler, at your service," Professor Frank announced himself, his eyes and grin both still wide as ever. "I am…heh…a world-renowned psychologist, but you may recognize me as a…heh…contestant in the recent Fortune Cup. Ha ha, _ha ha ha!_"

"Err…very good, then," Jack stated uneasily, furrowing his brow and tensing his wings as the madman continued to chortle coldly. "Let us…move on."

"My name is Samuel Bolger, your Excellency," said Bolger, sounding both far saner but also far more melancholy than his colleague. "I am the CEO of Bolger & Company, a Neo Domino-based company that produces D-Wheel parts."

"And I am Clark Smith," Clark cut in, adjusting his glasses so that they caught the torchlight that lit the dim throneroom. "I am a CEO as well, of the multinational conglomerate Momentum Express Development Organization. We perform top-secret research regarding potential new applications of Planetary Particles."

"Hmm…quite intriguing, Smith," the Dark King declared, deciding on the spur of the moment to restrict his address of these new servants to their last names only. That would ensure that their respective relationships remained properly formal and professional…as they should. "And now, our final apostle?"

"Me not…know name…" the Player Killer of Darkness grunted slowly, his beady eyes pleading with his Lord not to be too furious at his ignorance. "Only know…letters 'P'…and 'K'…but Reaper says…they stand for…'Player Killer.' If that wrong…though…Master can…tell me what…to call me…and me…me will be that…"

Jack shared a dubious glance to his Dark Queen, who reacted with the mental equivalent of a shrug before deciding to outright ask, "Reaper, what exactly is…wrong with this one?"

Being dispossessed of the power of speech the Reaper could not answer this question directly, so instead he made an attempt to converse directly with his Master…an attempt that proved entirely unsuccessful, since strictly speaking his Master was not currently in control. Wiraqocha Rasca seemed keen on remedying that fact as quickly as possible, however, as Jack could now feel its presence pushing up against his conscious mind and attempting to shove it out of the way.

_Why are you putting up resistance, My host? Our chief servant wishes to parlay with My essence, and in any event I require this body to hand out My first orders to these weak-minded fools._

"Not just yet, condor," Jack murmured inwardly. "Before I allow you to retake control, I have a stipulation that I demand you accede to."

_Stipulation? I was under the impression that We had a deal._

"And I am altering the deal," the Dark King maintained. "The thing is, I've been going over our little 'bargain' in my head for the past few hours, and I've realized that you left open a rather large loophole…one that I fully intend to close before I permit you to work my bones and sinew once more."

_And what loophole might that be, pray tell?_

"You assured me that no harm would come to my beloved by way of either your hand or my own," Jack reminded the God. "But as your seven new servants all appear to have fully functioning hands of their own, I feel that strengthening that guarantee is beyond necessary. Swear that they too shall be forbidden from hurting Carly in any way, or so help me…"

…_Very well, then. I accept this added condition, My host; I shall henceforth make no orders intended to inflict injury to your Queen upon any of My subordinates. Now, will you graciously move _aside?

"A bargain…is a bargain," Jack assented, before the now-familiar sensation of losing control over all faculties of his undead body returned in full force, Wiraqocha Rasca spreading Its figurative wings throughout every fiber of his being until It was finally able to rasp, "Now Reaper, repeat that explanation for your Lord and Master."

_The ones that call themselves Professor Frank Adler, and the Player Killer of Darkness, have had their minds utterly broken by the traumas they have experienced at our enemies' hands. Deliver them from their madness and I assure you, my Lord, that they shall be potent weapons in the War against the Signers._

"Then it shall be so," the Jibakushin bellowed, bidding the two servants in question to approach him and kneel humbly. The hands that usually belonged to Jack Atlas were then placed across the jet-black plumes still protruding from their respective chests, and with a pulse of unholy energy a direct connection between the condor and Its followers' innermost psyches was forged. "This man Adler is possessed of nothing more than garden-variety insanity…child's play to repair," It narrated as it worked rapidly to make the necessary adjustments. "There – now only just enough lunacy remains for Our servant to pursue the necessary vengeance against she who exacted this fate upon him in the first place. And now, as for _this_ one…"

But the condor God did not complete that sentence, for in that moment Its host body was blasted back into a wall by an enormous explosion of golden energy, radiating from within the Player Killer's deepest core. Wiraqocha Rasca had only just enough time to witness a shining eye appear upon the broken man's broad forehead before the ancient power disappeared completely, irately hissing, "This man's mental state is…not natural. It has been brought on by another power, one completely alien to My own…and I do not believe that even I can mend it entirely. At most I can weaken this strange force's hold, and restore this whelp's capacity for remotely intelligent speech. Now, bask in your gifts, and bring glory to I who have bestowed them upon thee."

"I bid you the utmost gratitude for your assistance in returning my higher mental faculties to me, Master," Professor Frank responded neutrally, his now-impassive expression contrasting fiercely with the gleeful psychosis that had dominated it only moments prior.

Player Killer, meanwhile, seemed to have been struck completely dumb by the sudden restoration of many basic brain functions he had been missing for over three decades, though the incompletely broken curse meant that the general feeling of apprehension and paranoia still remained. Finally he managed to choke out, "Th…Thank you, my Lord. I shall work tirelessly to ensure that the energy you devoted to salvaging me from the depths of oblivion was not wasted."

"I am pleased to hear such an attitude, My servant," Wiraqocha Rasca whispered coldly, returning Its host's body to his throne and seating Itself down once more. On the adjacent seat Carly Nagisa continued to regard her possessed husband with a mixture of apprehension, disgust, and at least a twinge of fear, though the condor paid her no attention; just because the Earthbound God had sworn not to directly bring harm to her didn't mean that It had to treat her with anything resembling…fondness. So far as It was concerned, the self-fashioned "Dark Queen" was completely immaterial to the plan that It was now preparing to unveil.

"Now that I have been introduced to all seven of you, and brought those amongst your assemblage with insurmountable mental difficulties to a basic level of competence, it is time for Me to assign each of you your principal tasks in the final War against the Crimson Light," the condor announced, gesturing ostentatiously to each of Its brainwashed minions in turn. "Bolger and Adler, your targets are writ as clear as day upon the surfaces of your psyches; track down and defeat the Signers Crow Hogan and Ruka, by any means necessary. My host has demanded that they be captured alive, and I suppose that if you are given the choice that should be preferable…but nevertheless, if you believe that the situation requires it I authorize you both to exact lethal force at your own discretion. The legacy of the Akaki Ryu must end before very much longer, and I task you to bring Us two steps closer to that glorious goal."

Sneering with sadistic glee at the thought, Wiraqocha Rasca then pressed on, "Player Killer, you must locate and neutralize the Signers' remaining allies, in whatever hovel they have chosen to take root within most recently. Verbrechen and Vasquez, I wish for the two of you to patrol the streets of Neo Domino and snuff out any small pockets of resistance that may rise up from what little remains of its devastated population. Smith, you will remain here with My host and provide him with any knowledge he requires with regards to the secrets of Momentum, as well as serve as potential reserves should the need arise to send you out onto the battlefield. And finally, My Reaper…to you I bestow command of My entire legion of undead soldiers. Lead them efficiently and effectively in order to help facilitate the success of all your fellows' missions, and I shall be greatly pleased."

All of the gathered murderers and psychopaths made varying grunts or whoops of affirmation before bowing in unison once more, with all of them minus Clark Smith exiting the chamber without another word as soon as the condor bid them, "Now disperse, my Children of the Feather! Disperse, and wreak bloody vengeance upon this mortal world!"

And so it was that the recently appellated Children spread forth across the Satellite and Neo Domino City, whereas their Master collapsed back into Its throne and receded into Its host's subconscious once more, said host immediately finding comfort in a wife who held his shuddering body tight.

[-]

Being the twin who _wasn't_ prone to dropping out of consciousness and going on weird Spirit World adventures, Rua reflected, certainly provided quite a bit of excess time for self-contemplation.

Specifically, the green-haired boy's current thread of musings was being brought on by watching his sister's red claw flicker and glimmer in the light, and feeling a strange sense of envy that he was certainly not proud of, but which nonetheless was definitely ever-present in his general thoughts. There was no denying, after all, that recent circumstances – tragic as they were – had led to the Crimson Dragon being forced to select two new Signers out of whole cloth…and that Rua had missed the cut both times.

Of course, the boy was laboring under no delusions that he was somehow "better qualified" or something for the positions that Crow and Officer Ushio now occupied, but an oppressive air of disappointment still lingered at the corners of his mind, no matter how hard he tried to squash it out. If nothing else, gaining a Signer mark of his very own would've proven conclusively that he wasn't just some useless tagalong to this party endeavoring to save the world, but a valued member who could pull his weight when it really counted.

What, after all, had he really done so far since this whole mess started? He had impersonated his sister and prevented her from suffering humiliating defeat at the hands of Bommer…but then she ended up in even _worse_ trouble against that professor guy, so he didn't exactly help out much there. And after that he had been beaten brutally by Divine, failing to protect Ruka yet again; the only reason she wasn't getting experimented by that sick bastard at this very moment was the ironically fortunate timing of the Dark Signers' attack on the Arcadia Building. Now, Rua supposed that he _had_ performed fairly admirably against Demak, but in the end his contribution really amounted to little more than glorified stalling until his sister could return with Ancient Fairy Dragon in toe – something that pretty much anyone could've done. Hell, if Yusei or Aki or whoever had been the one holding off the man with the monkey birthmark, they probably would've _won_ in the time it took for Ruka to navigate the Spirit World, and she never would've had to risk her life in that flaming geoglyph in the first place.

Rua had resigned himself, a long time ago, to the fact that he would need to be his sister's guardian for as long as they remained together on this Earth, but he had initially thought that he was required in that role because Ruka was frail and sickly and needed constant protection from those who would take advantage of her…not because she had a destiny writ as far as the stars themselves, and the most he was fated to do was ensure that she would be allowed to follow it without obstruction. The realization that this was really all he amounted to in the grand scheme of things was not a fun one, and for the most part it only served to make Rua feel…what was the word his tutor used? "Emaskalated"? Something like that…honestly, he never really paid much attention to his private lessons, especially when it came to stuff like English.

…Like everything else that actually _mattered_ in this world, that was really more of Ruka's thing.

And yet, as envious as Rua could admit to being of Crow's and Ushio's marks – and Hell, if he was gonna be really honest, Yusei's and Aki's and Ruka's as well – he somehow couldn't actually bring himself to feel _sad_ over losing out on the chance to be a Signer however many times now. Thinking of the head or the tail or the wings or either of the claws superimposed over his own forearm just seemed _wrong_, somehow, and his mind's solution to this seemingly irreconcilable contradiction appeared to be settling into a general sense of numbness. Perhaps there was some greater force at work here, dictating by some strange twisted logic that Rua's destiny was to serve as a hanger-on to all these fantastic events but never truly become a part of them…but if that was so, he would really rather prefer that said greater force go back to minding its own fucking business.

Sighing low and lying back beside his sister's limp form, Rua continued to ponder his lot in life with an ever-decreasing level of new thoughts, until inevitably his mind was merely going around in circles, wondering how he could possibly be both frustrated and yet in many ways rather unconcerned with his continued lack of a Signer mark at the very same time. Coming up with no answers and succeeding in doing nothing more than escalating his general malaise, Rua was quite relieved to hear his sister finally panting heavily next to him, a surefire sign that she was just about to return to the physical plane.

…That relief almost immediately transformed into panic, however, when that panting was directly followed by Ruka screaming at the top of her lungs, writhing back-and-forth in agony as if plagued by some unseen assailant.

"Ruka!" the male twin cried out, attempting to shake his sister awake without success. His first instinct was to begin shrieking his head off as well – dealing with unexpected crises _really_ wasn't his strong suit – but Rua attempted to master that impulse as much as possible and think logically about this situation. What had Ruka's advice been in case something like this happened? Her first suggestion, rattling her physically, clearly wasn't working, so that left…

Rua hadn't even known he could run that fast before he was rushing into Zora's bathroom and filling a bucket in her shower with several liters of water, all of which he hauled back to their shared bed and unloaded into his sister's face. Beyond being drenched, however, nothing about Ruka's mannerisms appeared to change from this action…indeed, the volume and intensity of her screams appeared to be _worsening_.

"I…but…no…" Rua stammered fretfully, not understanding why his sister's prescriptions weren't working. Now in full-on panic mode, the green-haired boy attempted to shake her even more vigorously, but this time he was rebuffed by some strange power that was now coursing through every fiber of Ruka's being, flying back and slamming into the opposite wall. The impact was so great that Rua was barely conscious of himself by the time he stood up again, spurred on solely by his sister, whose tortured shrieks pierced his mind like white-hot daggers. Trying to force himself to calm down again, the male twin weighed his options and decided hazily that he required help…and there was only one person in the immediate vicinity who had the training necessary to deal with something like this.

"Aki Nee-chan!" Rua shouted desperately as he ran back into Zora's house, not bothering to keep his dignity as he scrambled at a breakneck pace toward every point in the dwelling where she could conceivably be located. "Aki Nee-chan, Ruka needs your help _now_!"

The young boy was rushing around at such a rapid pace, in fact, that he did not notice Martha Okasama until he ran smack-dab into her apron-clad midsection, pratfalling backward from the collision. "Now Rua-kun, you really shouldn't be running around someone else's house like this!" she admonished, helping him back up. "What's this business about your sister?"

"Her soul went off on some weird spiritual journey thingy, and now she's screaming her lungs out in pain!" he exclaimed, wrestling out of the matron's grip. "I need to find Aki Nee-chan…she's the only person that might be able to help!"

"What?" yelled Martha, turning back toward the garage where all the children were housed. "I…I'd like to ask more questions, but I can tell from your tone that time is of the essence. Aki-san is doing some meditation or something of the sort in a gymnasium on the westward corner of the street; hurry and fetch her, and I'll try and cover Ruka-chan while you do. Go, Rua-kun!"

Rua didn't need to be told twice; within seconds he was already flying out of Zora's front door and hurtling himself down the deserted street, scanning the signs and storefront windows until he spotted a door adorned with illustrations of treadmills and barbells, one which he immediately crashed straight through…before being struck utterly speechless.

Aki Izayoi was indeed inside this gym, but she was not meditating…or at least, not conducting any sort of meditation _he_ was familiar with. Rather she was flying at a cylindrical punching bag and wailing upon it with an unending series of punches and kicks, ripping deep gashes in the thick sack of sand before running her hands back across it and psychically sealing up the damage so that the process could be repeated. For just a moment Rua almost forgot the grave matter for which he was here in the first place, marveling with the fascination of a child at the sheer beauty and grace of Aki's fighting style, unpracticed as it very clearly was. That moment passed however as soon as the female Signer happened to turn his way, wiping her sweat-matted brow as she panted out, "Rua? Is…is something…the matter?"

"It's Ruka, Aki Nee-chan!" he cried out, running up and grabbing her by her now-bruising hands. "She sent out her spirit to try and track down that King of the Underworld thing, and now she sounds like she's dying! Please, you gotta help her!"

"You mean she's…astrally projecting herself…at her age? What was she _thinking_?" Aki murmured quietly, allowing herself to be led back to their makeshift base as fast as Rua's short legs could carry him. It wasn't much longer before the pair was bursting back into the room where Ruka was flailing about, surrounded on all sides by her rough peers and by Martha, who was attempting to restrain the girl from inadvertently harming herself. "Clear the area, give her some room!" the magenta-haired young woman ordered immediately, and obediently the orphans immediately shuffled out of the bedroom, while Martha stepped back to allow Aki easy access.

"I've heard stories about what can happen when something like this goes wrong…but truthfully, I've never actually dealt with it myself before," Aki admitted, checking Ruka's breathing and heartbeat.

"Should I go wake up Lewis?" Martha suggested worriedly.

"The doctor? No, this isn't something that conventional medicine can handle, I'm afraid," Aki told her in deliberately measured tones. "The only way to snap Ruka-chan out of this state is to jolt her spirit back here somehow…I can try and provide a psychic pathway to assist her return, but like I said before, I've never actually done anything like that…"

"You'll do fine…big sis," Rua encouraged, placing a small hand across hers. "You and Ruka are both Signers, so that makes you both kinda like sisters. And so, as your little brother, I'm telling you…you can do this. After all, if you could pull off a display like the one you performed in that gym, something like this should be a snap."

Aki blushed slightly at the allusion to the uncharacteristic release of emotion she had just finished unloading, but the comforting words touched her all the same, and with new resolution she nodded confidently and placed one palm astride Ruka's forehead. She flinched noticeably as she encountered the same mysterious burst of energy that had sent Rua flying, but she did not release her hold, instead chanting softly, "Return to us, return to us, _return to us_…"

Not being privy to any sort of knowledge over what Aki was really attempting to _do_ here, Rua truthfully had no idea whether or not it was actually going to work…but considering the volume of his sister's current shrieking, he damn well hoped it would.

It didn't appear as if they had a lot of time left.

[-]

Saiga Madera was currently in the midst of appraising his inventory.

With no other options left beyond awaiting a rescue that might never come (he had sent a second message to Martha's device explaining the presence of the children, but he of course had no way of knowing whether it would ever be read), the only real avenue left to him in terms of hands-on action was to secure this rusty warehouse from the zombie horde now swarming around it from all sides. Every few seconds he could hear their brittle fists pounding against some new section of the tempered steel, a factor that was doing little to calm down the weeping kids now within his charge, and so his central line of thought was currently on locking down this provisional fortress for as long as he possibly could.

His first priority was reinforcing the walls on all sides, which were old and rusting and unlikely to last for too much longer under pressure. Fortunately, this sort of thing came fairly naturally to him – it was in the genes, he supposed.

When he was a young boy growing up in the worst part of Neo Domino that side of the Satellite, his mother had constantly regaled him with stories of his father's wonderful exploits around the world. Every night before bed it had been the same – the time that James wrestled ten alligators in a single day, or the time that James brought down a small mountain in order to get to the tyrannosaurus fossils underneath, or the time that James had gone off to another dimension and returned with treasures fit for a king. Truthfully Saiga set very little store behind the truthfulness of these tales, but in the enamored moods she fell into so frequently his mother would speak of nothing else. It had been the reason why she had decided never to inform the unknown James that she was pregnant with his child; she had been unable to bring herself to shackle down such a free-roaming spirit to a single location with something as mundane as a baby.

…Which, Saiga had always thought, was a pretty bullshit reason for why he had never been allowed to meet his father, but that was neither here-nor-there. Besides, at this point his mother was no longer in any position to receive his vitriol on the subject…or on any other subject, for that matter.

Still, the upshot of the situation was that Saiga had been driven from an incredibly young age to treat daily life in the inner city as if it were a constant battle for survival, learning the tools and skills necessary to fight, duel, and evade like a professional…in other words, like his father. Whether he was trying to emulate or spite the man who was doubtless unaware that he even existed, Saiga had never been particularly sure, but in the end he decided that it really didn't matter. He was his own man now, and if he happened to resemble his father in some respects…well, so be it.

Especially since, as time went on, Saiga's personality and temperament had begun to diverge farther and farther from the fabled James Cook's – a man who, by his mother's descriptions, had never been one to do things by halves, and who had never actively resisted the spotlight even though he so rarely sought it out himself. Saiga, by contrast, had been made well-aware that he and fame made for a volatile combination after his disastrous career with the Pro-Leagues, a lesson that both he and especially poor Yuji had learned the hard way. From that point onward Saiga had kept to the shadows, making a great career out of allowing others who would rather prefer to stay outside the law's purview to do the same, whereas Yuji…well, Saiga would make it up to him, somehow.

He had sent a letter to his old duel partner's last-known address a few days after Yusei's intervention had spurred him to rethink the whole affair, but so far no response had been forthcoming…not surprising, given that he was currently waist-deep in the Satellite and Neo Domino was going through who-knew-how-many circles of Hell. But if Saiga managed to get out of this whole mess alive, the first thing he would make sure to do was to man-up to Yuji and take ownership of his own mistakes, principal among them being his vain attempts to be someone he wasn't – a man like James Cook.

…Still, if he ever wanted that cathartic reunion to come about Saiga knew that he needed to ensure both his own survival and the children's, so being a little more like his mother's object of obsession at _this_ particular juncture probably wasn't such a bad idea.

Phase one of locking down the warehouse was fairly simple: piling up the ample supply of crates against the various walls, so that the ghouls would have more than just a thin barrier of tempered steel to block out their assault. Luckily these walking corpses didn't appear to be particularly complex thinkers, as by the sound of it they were concentrating virtually all of their melee attacks on a few particular segments of the building. If they were to come at him from every direction at once, Saiga was honestly pretty confident that he _wouldn't_ be able to handle them quickly enough, but as it was he seemed to be holding them off fairly well. Enormous crates of industrial machinery, after all, were rather a bit harder to get past than the decaying metal surrounding them on all sides.

Once the zombies' potential entrances were deemed sufficiently blocked off (with the welcome assistance of an abandoned forklift lying forgotten in the corner in order to move the crates in the first place), Saiga once again began pondering the supplies available to him, specifically in the realm of weaponry. The children could hide themselves once the inevitable occurred and the creatures busted through the reinforced barriers – and indeed he was currently ordering the more level-headed of the kids to do precisely that – but if they had any chance of surviving to a potential rescue from Ushio or Martha or whoever else, it would require Saiga to stand and fight for as long as he could.

Guns were out of the question (truthfully he had never actually touched one in his life, and it wasn't like he was just going to stumble across one in a place like this), but the warehouse was filled to the brim with potential short-range weapons like pipes and bricks, as well as the aforementioned forklift if he got _really_ desperate. The various survival and medical supplies he had packed into his burlap bag probably wouldn't be too much help in this area, but there were a few gems amongst the bunch, including several coils of rope and a short knife. It wasn't much, in terms of going up against an encroaching zombie horde…but it would have to do.

…Unfortunately, virtually all of this preparation was rendered utterly null about ten seconds later, as a sharp whistling noise like intensely rushing wind invaded Saiga's ears and brought with it a colossal explosion of pitch-black energy, one which rent an enormous gash in the side of the warehouse and exposed its innards to the several hundred monsters eagerly awaiting blood.

"Get back, kids!" Saiga screamed instinctively, throwing out his arms to shield them from view, though he knew deep-down that it would do little good at this stage. Then, turning back to the gaping hole in the rusted steel, he tried to buy a bit more time (and focus attention on himself) by shouting, "Who was that? I know it can't have been you freaks…if you could pull off something like that, you would've done it by now!"

"Very astute, young man," stated a low voice utterly devoid of passion, and a moment later a brunette with thin glasses, a short beard, and a crisply cut gray suit strode into the room as disinterestedly as one would a vaguely dull museum. "Now, I don't believe we've been introduced. My name is Samuel Bolger, and I am looking for the Signer, Crow Hogan."

[-]

"Damn, that was _quick_," Andore Porthos observed as his half of Team Kizuna hauled in several large crates of equipment that had been wheeled to the door by some delivery company apparently insane enough (or more likely, illicit enough) to be willing to fulfill orders in the middle of Armageddon. "I mean, you ordered that lab equipment like…what, five hours ago?"

"I have a previous contact who was…familiar with our location," Jean Aramis explained, slitting open the boxes to appraise the high-tech contents within. "One Professor Rebecca Hopkins, Dean of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She's been working on refining this sort of all-purpose containment field for over twenty years, and she was more than willing to provide us with one from her university outpost here in Japan after I offered up the sum total of the fortune the Izayois brought us as a donation. 1.2 million dollars can go quite a long way toward further research."

"No fucking kidding," Andore commented dryly, now staring in awe at the slender capsule they had purchased. "But are you _sure_ this thing will actually hold one of those corpse creatures?"

"According to the specs Professor Hopkins sent to me, it'd easily hold _ten_ of those things, plus a couple elephants to boot," Jean assured him with a subdued grin. "This glass is steel-reinforced and laced with diamond shards at key points – virtually nothing on the planet is stronger. No single ghoul, no matter how inhumanly strong, is gonna have a snowball's chance in Hell at breaking out. And in the unlikely event that something _does_ go wrong, there's an automated defense system built-in that'll use air pressure to crush the thing to a pulp. So will you stop _bitching_ so much?"

"Ah c'mon darling, you know I don't mean it," Andore said coyly, teasingly bussing his boyfriend's cheek, before turning back to the Izayois, who both looked rather scandalized, and rolling his eyes. "Oh, gimme a break. We named our team after freaking _unicorns_…that didn't give you enough of a hint?"

A few beats passed before Hideo Izayoi cleared his throat and stated in a slow, political voice, "What you two do in your…err…private time is no concern of ours. Now…shouldn't we, um, check in with those young men manning the security cameras?"

"Right you are," Jean agreed, giving his partner a glare that quite plainly said "not in public, you idiot" and leading the others to the adjacent room, where Taro Yamashita, Yoshizo Hayashi, and Jinbei Tanigawa were gathered closely around a monitor. "Anything to report?" he asked them.

"There's a procession of about ten of those things that passes close by _Always_ once every fifteen minutes, right on the dot," Taro answered promptly. "Capturing one from the rear with a net or something shouldn't be too difficult, if we time it right."

"Good work," Jean complimented, perusing the data Jinbei had jotted down. "How long until the next pass?"

"Exactly five-and-a-half minutes, sirs!" Yoshizo exclaimed excitedly, glancing at the timer on the monitor.

"First off, no need to call either of us 'sir'…got _more_ than enough of that from Stephanie," Andore mock-lamented. "But in that case, we better hurry the Hell up. Don't wanna give them the opportunity to alter this oh-so-convenient patrol pattern."

"Indeed," Jean assented laconically, unlocking a storage closet in the corner of the room and beginning to extract the necessary equipment. "Now Taro, you and I are going to remain here at the computers and serve as mission control. Yoshizo, Jinbei, and Andore, grab this net here and lay it down exactly where Taro specifies, and Hideo and Setsuko, get the capsule primed and ready for this thing. The rope used for this net is of the absolute highest quality, but I have no guarantee that even something like this can hold one of those creeps for long. So let's get to it already!"

As it so happened, in an abandoned apartment building directly across the street from _Always_, Barbara Vasquez was saying precisely the same thing to Nicolas Verbrechen…though in the midst of rather drastically differing circumstances. So far as she was concerned, there was a fine line between taking it slow and then taking it _slow_, the latter of which was generally not a problem with the fast-living males in Crash Town, but which the relatively inexperienced Nicolas was falling into rather irritatingly. "I mean, I love the build-up as much as the next gal, and you're doing quite fine at it," she told him, and it was largely true (he definitely wasn't the _best_ lay she had ever had, but he'd probably at least make the top ten), "but would it kill you to make some effort to fucking get me off?"

"Well _excuse_ me, yeh dirty slut," he retorted heatedly, though she appeared to take this as more of a term of endearment than anything else, based on the…physicality of her response. "You want me to pick up the pace? Fine…"

The next five minutes or so were pure ecstasy, in the cruel and perverted sense that Barbara had long learned to embrace in that unforgiving desert town. There was a particularly intense sensation to be experienced every time the pulsating feathers lodged in both their respective chests approached each other, like the feedback of a microphone approaching a speaker, but pain and pleasure were virtually indistinguishable to her and, based on the incoherent German babbling her lover was spewing out, to him as well. And then, _finally_, the moment she had requested from the Satellite-born sociopath came to fruition…just as a rope snapped outside the open window, jarring both participants out of the recently complete act.

"The fuck was that?" Barbara demanded; based on their current arrangement, he was the only one that was really in a position to glance through the grimy casement.

"Looks like…heilig scheiße…" he muttered, apparently not believing his eyes. "Some random arschlochs in jumpsuits just snapped up one of the Master's goons in a net…oldest trick in the book, and someone actually pulled it off…but what the fuck are they hoping to gain from this?"

"Stop mumbling," she snapped. "And pull on your pants already, since it looks like we've got some _actual _work to do."

"Well, maybe," Nicolas equivocated, squinting against the light reflecting off of the gleaming white building behind the enigmatic trio as they opened a hidden door via some unseen mechanism and dragged the struggling zombie inside. "Seems like they've retreated back into their base,_ whoever_ these fuckers are…but all the same, I think the Reaper will be pleased."

"How so?" Barbara inquired skeptically, raising her eyebrows and resetting her bra.

"We're supposed to be on the lookout for signs of rebellion out of what's left of this city's broken populace, aren't we?" he reminded her, pulling on his muscle shirt and jacket. "Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that we've just found it."

[-]

One of the advantages of being trilingual was that Sherry Leblanc had access to a very, _very_ extensive catalogue of profanity.

Fortunately, Mizoguchi didn't seem to mind, for which she was grateful; she would sooner burn her deck than admit something was bothering her in the presence of most others, but with her lifelong guardian as the sole witness she was permitted to deal with her broken leg in any manner she chose…hence the aforementioned swearing.

"Shit, merde, fuck, putain, cunt, con, motherfucking _bitch!_" she exclaimed repeatedly as Mizoguchi helped her to limp away from the wreckage of the crash that had separated them from Yusei Fudo. To Sherry's immense disappointment her precious D-Wheel had been shredded to pieces in the impact, leaving nothing at all salvageable from the remains but the chip containing its operating program. "Urgh…I'm sorry, Mizoguchi. I'm sure you don't really feel like getting an earful like that at the moment."

"It is no matter, my lady," Kenji Mizoguchi stated stoically, continuing to carry at least seventy percent of her weight forward. "If I shall be honest, I was simply waiting to be asked to…'pardon your French,' so to speak."

"Did…did you just tell a _joke?_" Sherry cried out, her eyes bulging. "Mon Dieu, you did! Damn, this must really _be_ the Apocalypse."

Mizoguchi simply chuckled absently at this, before setting them both down on the steps of what appeared to be an abandoned liquor store in order to catch their respective breaths. "So…do you have any idea where we should go now, Mizoguchi?" she requested of him after a few silent beats. "I'm not exactly all that familiar with these slums."

"Nor am I, I must admit," the elder gentleman confessed, attempting to access the GPS system built into his Duel Disk but finding little success due to interference. "I have not traveled to Neo Domino City for many years, and it has been even longer since I have paid visit to this despondent fragment of the formerly unbroken town. But my network of associates is strong, and even here…yes, I think I can find us some temporary shelter, my lady. For the time that it takes for your leg to heal sufficiently, at least."

"You could _try_ to be a little less incomprehensible," Sherry jibed, even as she allowed herself to be lifted from her brief recuperation and taken in a new direction, Mizoguchi whispering softly to himself as he observed street names and tried to envision the best possible route to his mysterious destination.

"My apologies, my lady," he said, taking a turn that led them away from the half-hearted storefronts and into a section of the slums that seemed to lack even the broken-down hovels that Sherry had recently come to expect from the Satellite. On the bright side, however, the largely empty district seemed to have largely escaped damage from the preceding wave of devastation. "If I am not mistaken – and I will readily acknowledge that I may be, as I have not engaged in correspondence with our potential harborer for nearly two decades – then we may find safe haven in the home of an old friend of mine from my days in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force…a man by the name of Tetsuzo Kuzuyama. We were quite close before he ultimately decided to retire for the sake of his scrap-metal craftsmanship; a pastime that he was quite inordinately skilled at, I assure you. Hmm…and it appears that we are nearly there, based on my recollections of the letters describing his neighborhood."

"So why haven't you contacted this guy in so long?" Sherry asked as she continued to limp, glancing forward to observe a massive junkyard filled with mountains upon mountains of unstable scrap. "And is _that_ where he lives? What the Hell is with all the garbage?"

"Both questions find their answer in the same story, I am afraid," Mizoguchi related solemnly. "Kuzuyama-san was almost _too_ good at his work; in his very last, tear-soaked letter, he told me of the day his wife lost patience with his overworking manner and left with their son, leaving Tetsuzo alone in his sea of sculptures. Sadly, it appears that he has been driven to deal with his grief through the development of compulsive hoarding…not a particularly safe method for assuaging one's loneliness in a climate such as this. My lady, I humbly request that you treat this man with the utmost respect and sympathy; he has been through much, and after so many years I have little idea how he shall react to our presence."

"…Very well, Mizoguchi," the blonde duelist replied, sighing as the pair crossed the threshold onto Tetsuzo Kuzuyama's property. That sigh turned to an involuntary shriek almost immediately, however, as a wide pit appeared before them in the already nearly impossible-to-navigate walkway, Sherry being saved from injury only by Mizoguchi deliberately shifting their collective weight backward and allowing the two of them to fall to the ground, her own impact cushioned by his muscular form. "Putain…de…_merde_…" she slowly enunciated, her face screwed up with pain as her guardian gradually moved them back up to a standing position.

"Kuzuyama-san, stand down!" he shouted as he did, his gaze turned to the ramshackle house lying square in the middle of the mounds of debris. Perched on the edge of the shack's porch and looking incensed was an elderly man in a yellowish shirt, his right hand clutching a ropelike cord as he prepared to set off another trap. His palm held at the trigger, however, as he turned to the source of the exclamation and gasped. "K…Kenji? No…that can't be you…"

"It is, old friend," Mizoguchi assured him, now approaching the house very cautiously; Tetsuzo's hand was still loosely gripping the rope that would do who-knew-what. "I apologize immensely for intruding like this unannounced, but my lady and I are bereft of shelter for the night and her leg requires immediate care. I was wondering, perhaps, if you might allow us into your home for a short period so that we might recuperate, before returning to the path of our journey."

Tetsuzo, however, did not appear to have heard a word the aged butler had said; rather he continued to stare in utter astonishment at his old war buddy, as if he was gazing upon the visage of a ghost. "I…no, no…" he muttered distantly, now looking past the pair toward some unknown section of the field of junk. "No, you'll ruin everything…especially her…she'll ruin everything!"

And with that he was pushing both of them roughly aside (Sherry swearing again in both French and English as she was forced to briefly put weight on her broken leg) and scrambling off to a large, flat panel built into a hollow in the endless wall of scrapheaps, Sherry and Mizoguchi ambling after him as he eventually collapsed onto the device, crying out hysterically, "She's _not_ Koki! I thought, after all these years…even with everything that's going on…that he might finally have…but she's not…_she's not Koki!_"

"Are you…_sure_ this man was a former military officer?" asked Sherry uneasily, now watching as the old man broke into shrill tears. "And is…is _that_ a Duel Arena he's sobbing on?"

"Built it…for Koki…" Tetsuzo wept, apparently not so far-gone that he was unable to hear her question. "Never…never had time to play games with him back then…never _made_ time…so I thought…if only I could show him I'm ready to play now…but no…never returned…_never_…"

"You must keep in mind, my lady, that we may be Kuzuyama-san's first visitors in nearly twenty years," Mizoguchi whispered, too low for his friend to hear. "He's had all this time by himself merely to stew in the pain of his own mistakes…and I believe that our arrival may have gotten his hopes up that he might finally have had a chance to fix them."

Sherry, for her part, wasn't a particularly emotional woman, but the pathos that this wailing man was eliciting from her as his screeches broke down into nearly silent sobs was impossible to deny. Perhaps it was because it reminded her, if ever-so-slightly, of her own sordid past, but in reverse; here the child had abandoned the parent…but either way, no desperately desired reunion had ever come to pass. In silence she slowly placed a gloved hand upon the grieving man's shoulder and, grateful that he didn't immediately throw it off, began to recite, her voice so soft that it sounded almost like song…

"_La peine de la perte…elle mord, elle pique…_

_Elle te blesse jusqu'à tu ne veux plus de sentir._

_Mais à la fin une écharde de lumière s'attarde toujours…_

_Et dans son embrassement, tu trouves la vie de nouveau."_

By the time that the short stanza was completed Tetsuzo Kuzuyama was no longer crying, but instead gaping in awe at Sherry, as if he hadn't properly noticed her there before this moment. "Wh…What was that, young lady?" he wheezed, rubbing his tear-soaked eyes.

"That was a poem I wrote a few days after…the murders of my parents," the blonde told him, breathing heavily; the fact that she was constantly set upon avenging their deaths didn't make relating the pain of losing them any easier. But if she was to ingratiate herself to this potential ally – and assuage his own overwhelming sorrow in some small way, the less cynical part of her brain was motivated to add – that would be necessary.

"In the years following my parents' deaths, I had nothing, and no one to turn to…save for Mizoguchi," Sherry described, still coming just short of making eye contact with the recipient of her narrative as she leaned up against the makeshift Duel Arena. "To be without even that…I can't even begin to imagine what you've gone through, dealing with your grief in such total solitude. But even though we're far too late to take away the pain completely, maybe Mizoguchi and I can provide you with some small measure of the support you've needed for so long. Would you like that, Kuzuyama-sama?"

"You can…make it go away?" asked Tetsuzo slowly, now curled-up and shivering, looking much smaller than he actually was. "But it hurts so much…"

"Come on, my friend," Mizoguchi offered comfortingly, helping the poor man to his feet. "Let's get you back out of the cold."

Several minutes later the Frenchwoman and her guardian were seated in Tetsuzo's immaculately plain living room and offering the septuagenarian a steaming cup of his own tea, which he accepted gratefully as he recuperated from his brief breakdown underneath several woolen blankets. Sherry, meanwhile, had somehow – perhaps because she couldn't exactly move much from her current position with her leg in such a condition – been conscripted into serving the old man a foot massage, with the unspoken assurance that Mizoguchi mentioning this ever again would result in his very unpleasant death. At minimum, however, it at least seemed to be putting Tetsuzo back at (relative) ease.

"I…I'm sorry for how I reacted when I first saw you two," he apologized wearily, clinging tightly to his cup. "It's just been so long since I've had visitors here – well, apart from that busybody Martha, of course – and I was already so antsy and depressed that when a couple of people I didn't recognize came calling, I just…snapped."

"It is no problem, Kuzuyama-san," Mizoguchi assured him. "But did you say 'Martha'? My lady, that was the name of the caregiver Yusei-san was taking us to meet, was it not?"

"Yeah, she runs this orphanage not too far from here," Tetsuzo confirmed. "Keeps coming 'round once every week or so to nag me to leave this house and move in with her lot…thinks it's not _safe_ for a man getting on in his years to live like in a place like this." He then emphasized this point by grunting in derision and crossing his arms haughtily…although the effect was somewhat undermined by the distinctive sound of one of the towering scrapheaps collapsing in on itself. Going on as if nothing had happened, he then added in a rather more subdued tone, "She doesn't understand, though…I _can't_ leave this house. I _can't_ leave that Duel Arena. What if my Koki returns someday, and I'm not here to greet him?"

"With all due respect, sir…your son would be a full-grown man by now," Sherry said pointedly. "If the two of you are destined to meet again at some point in the future, it won't matter where you live or what you feel you have to offer; what _will_ matter is the bond you two hold as father and son, regardless of your present separation. And so in all honesty, I must agree with this Martha; in a climate like this especially, you've essentially consigned yourself to waste away in an acre-wide deathtrap."

This claim was punctuated by the sonorous clatter of yet another pile of junk crashing down to the ground, causing Tetsuzo to sigh and admit, "I…suppose you do have a point. But what do you _expect_ me to do? I don't have anywhere else to go…and anyway, I thought you said that the whole point was for the both of you to hide out _here_ for a while."

"Only until my lady's leg heals sufficiently for further travel," Mizoguchi explained. "But once her injury has recovered, we shall be venturing out to locate the man who brought us into this country – Yusei Fudo. And when we do, I would like you to come with us."

"I…will think about it, then," Tetsuzo responded evasively, before turning to the young woman who had just finished providing relief to his aching feet and was now trying to wipe her hands on his rug as surreptitiously as possible. "But in the meantime…young lady, I suppose we somewhat skipped past proper introductions. I am Tetsuzo Kuzuyama, an old friend of your…err…"

"_Legal guardian_," Sherry pronounced sternly, trying to preempt him from getting the wrong idea about her relationship to her constant traveling companion, as far too many idiots she had met over the years had been wont to do. "And my name is Sherry Leblanc. Mizoguchi has been in service to me and my family since I was a very young child."

"Oh yes, I believe he mentioned something in our last correspondence about that," Tetsuzo recalled, a fond smile on his face. "To think that the little French girl who was so proud of managing to speak her first Japanese sentence could've grown up into such a beautiful and intelligent woman…" At this however the old man's face proceeded to fall yet again, and in much lower tones he appended, "It occurs to me that if I met Koki today, I wouldn't even recognize his face. It's been…so long…"

And with that Tetsuzo Kuzuyama fell backward into the couch pillows and drifted off into a fitful stupor, Sherry and Mizoguchi looking on and silently agreeing that this was going to be an…interesting chapter of their ongoing journey.

[-]

"Your host keeps You on an awfully short leash, does he not?" Aslla piscu taunted, staring at Its fellow Jibakushin from across the inky blackness with a distinct air of smug superiority.

"Did you summon Me across the mystic aether merely to throw out such childish insults?" Wiraqocha Rasca thundered, returning the unblinking glare. "Such conduct, hummingbird, is rather unbecoming of a God."

"Perhaps, but I feel that I have certainly earned the right to gloat," the Earthbound God asserted, cawing shrilly in an apparent bid for dominance. "Without My efforts Your precious avatar would be long-dead, and You would still be trapped in the body of that presumptuous silver-haired weakling. The empire of Hell that You have sought to build across the mortal world owes the entirety of its existence to My power, and to the wondrous foresight of My own host."

"And do You have a _point_ to all this needless self-preening?" the condor deity intoned impatiently, returning the piercing sound out of animalistic instinct.

"Do I have a _point_? Let Us bypass the unnecessary runaround, condor," Aslla piscu returned wrathfully, Its mood changing in an instant. "I speak, of course, of Your audacious ingratitude…Your constantly simmering plans to be rid of both My host and Myself, so that You might be left alone in this landscape of death with Your own emissary for all eternity."

"That is…simply untrue, My brother of the abyss," Wiraqocha Rasca declared dismissively, perhaps a little too quickly. Its fellow God merely beat Its wings heatedly at this, however.

"Do You forget that Your host has access to virtually all of Your thoughts, My host has access to all of _his_, and in return I have utter dominion over the entirety of _hers_?" It questioned rhetorically. "There are virtually no secrets that You hold within Yourself that I am not privy to when Our avatars freely exchange their minds with one another, You ungracious _whelp_ of a God, and so I am fully aware of Your utter, regicidal hatred of Carly Nagisa. Do _not_ attempt to deny it, condor!"

"…Even if that claim is true, what does it truly matter?" Wiraqocha Rasca carefully changed tact. "It is in the very nature of a creature of negative darkness to lack loyalty for Its confederates; if the occasion were to arise for You to eliminate Jack Atlas and Myself in turn, We are both well-aware that You would take it in an instant. After all, the Dark King has not forgotten Your very-near relinquishment of his second life, coming in the wake of only his first apparent failure."

These few well-chosen words stopped Aslla piscu dead in the middle of Its enraged ravings, so the condor took the opportunity to add, "And besides that, if You have truly been sharing in My avatar's thoughts by medium of Your own host, then You should already be quite cognizant of the fact that he has forbidden Me to harm that wench in any way. In fact, I was under the deep impression that this was precisely what You meant by him 'keeping Me on a short leash,' as you so inelegantly phrased the situation."

"Perhaps, condor, but I know You better than this," the hummingbird spat coldly. "Your host may have closed one loophole in the compact into which he so foolishly entered with You, but even as We converse across this void I am absolutely certain that You are searching for new ways to violate his edicts' spirit, if not their technical wording."

The unfeeling glare that Wiraqocha Rasca returned to Its fellow God at this insinuation would have been enough to shatter glaciers, though Aslla piscu held firm as the condor Jibakushin slowly bellowed, "Do not attempt to test me, hummingbird…it can only end badly. He who came before Us learned that the hard way ten millennia ago."

"Just because You were the one to deliver the final blow to Asiru Amaru does not, however much it may surprise You, strike fear into My immortal heart," Aslla piscu shot back, screeching dismissively. "And in any event it was our mutual progenitor, the King of the Underworld, that did most of the work in ridding the world of Its failed firstborn. Like the mortal bird upon which Your physical likeness was based, You merely showed up near the end of that climactic battle to pick off the Devil's carrion scraps; _any_ of Us could have done the same, had the King decided to create Us first."

"And yet, It did not," Wiraqocha Rasca pronounced enigmatically, before wrapping Its wings around Itself and beginning to fade from the dark dimension to which It had been summoned. "Not that this conversation has not been…enlightening, but My host has need of My counsel. As the humans are so very fond of saying, hummingbird…I wish You well."

And with the closest thing to laughter a God of the Underworld could muster, Wiraqocha Rasca sank back into the mind of Jack Atlas, leaving Aslla piscu staring blankly at the now-empty stretch of blackness and wondering whether It had just received any real answers to Its questions at all.

[-]

_So what is the issue, My host?_

"First off, why the fuck did you take so long?" Jack Atlas demanded, standing over Neo Domino City's Momentum reactor with his arms crossed and his wife by his side. "I've been stuck here for the past five minutes wondering what the Hell you could possibly want me to _do_ with this machine you worked so damn hard to acquire control over, and this fool your Reaper saddled me with is providing no help of any consequence."

"My utmost apologies, Master," Clark Smith uttered ingratiatingly, wringing his hand nervously as he regarded the hundreds of zombies sweeping through the facility at regular intervals, ensuring that it remained protected from any potential incursions by the Signers. "But I am afraid that I was far more of a businessman than a scientist during my time at Momentum Express. So although I used the powers of Infinity a great many times over the last year or so, I would not be able to explain the physical principles behind it at any more than a superficial level, nor reproduce any of its wondrous effects."

_Tell him that I do not have any interest in reproducing that fetid machine bestowed upon him by those fools in charge of Yliaster, although certain properties of its mechanisms do…intrigue Me. But regardless, that is not the reason why I ensured the security of a second, pristine generator of the Hikari no Yami. The true reason…is that I wish for you to set off a second Zero Reverse._

"_What?"_ Jack exploded, causing Carly and Clark to stare at him in blank confusion. "You…you _can't_ be serious!"

_Why such surprise, My emissary of death? You have already turned most of Neo Domino into a burning wasteland, and have sent off Our King to do the same to the rest of this worthless world. I am simply asking for you to…complete the job, so to speak._

"But would that not…" the Dark King began, but the condor Jibakushin cut him off.

_Do not worry, My host…your precious palace shall be shared, as shall all of the myriad forces at your command. This incredible release of pure power shall be handled differently from the first, channeling its energies through the volcanic fault-lines that lie hidden deep beneath this wretched city rather than across its ruinous surface. The chief result shall simply be that this landscape shall finally match the molten Hell that you witnessed in your vision of the glorious future…a Hell that shall truly be worthy of being reigned over by the Dark King._

"There's something you're not telling me, condor," Jack declared, narrowing his eyes even though he knew the Earthbound God wouldn't actually see it. "I find it extremely difficult to believe that you would ask me to blow up another Momentum reactor just to do a little cosmic redecorating on our hallowed domain."

…_Your perceptiveness is as impressive as ever, Jack Atlas; I do indeed have an ulterior motive for making this request of you. To put it simply, are You not aware that there are over twenty-five intact geoglyphs etched across the Nazca desert?_

The less-than-subtle revelation that accompanied this plain statement of fact was not lost on Jack Atlas, whose empty eyes snapped wide as he gripped the handrail before him. "You really _can't_ be serious…" he murmured, ignoring Carly's questioning look.

_Do not misunderstand. While each and every one of the Nazca Lines does indeed represent an imprisoned Jibakushin, only eight were granted intelligences and physical embodiments – the seven of Us with whom you are now intimately familiar, as well as the serpent Asiru Amaru, the King of the Underworld's aborted first kin. While the serpent, known to you mortals as the Crimson Devil, was eventually sealed by the King and Myself in an impenetrable temple to prevent His traitorous usurpation, the remaining Earthbound Gods, from the hound to the llama to the triangle, are still trapped beneath those desert sands, just waiting for the High Ruler of Hell to grant Their release. Being dispossessed of the assets of acumen and cunning with which Aslla piscu, Uru, Myself, and the rest of My fellows were endowed, They are nothing more than mean spirits with absolute loyalty to their King…and once They are free, this entire planet shall belong wholly to the powers of the Underworld, for now and forevermore._

"So…these are just unthinking demons, then?" Jack reasoned out slowly. "And you are absolutely _certain_ that you and the King of the Underworld can control them, if only you simply detonate this new Zero Reverse the 'right way'?"

_That is correct._

Jack gave a breathless sigh and pinched his brow, staring deep into the shimmering flashes of rainbow-hued energy that his eyes could not truly absorb, before finally turning to Carly so that she could hear and decreeing commandingly, "Then it shall be done, condor. Personally ensure that this disastrous event has no consequences beyond those that you have specifically outlined, and I shall permit its execution."

_I am pleased, Jack Atlas. Touch your hand to the crown of My Reaper's final acquisition, and I shall transfer the knowledge necessary to engage this operation directly to his enthralled mind. Bringing about this targeted release of the light that is darkness shall take a minimum of forty-eight of your mortal hours, so I…encourage you to take care of the Signer problem in that time._

"_That_, condor, is one thing about which you certainly don't have to worry," the Dark King whispered, following its instructions and touching Clark Smith's forehead nevertheless, which caused the feather lodged in his heart to burst back to life and briefly envelop his bespectacled eyes in an ethereal violet glow.

After a moment however the radiance faded and Clark merely nodded, jumping straight to barking orders to the various ghouls creeping around the chamber as if he had been doing so all his life. "You lot over there, start gathering a few-dozen Planetary Energy extractors from storage!" he bellowed, now completely ignoring the couple he had ostensibly been assigned to serve. "And you five, get to work on adjusting the settings to compensate…"

Once the gray-suited blond began to rattle off far more technical language and scientific jargon however, the collective knowledge of an embodiment of the negative darkness that pervaded the Universe flowing through his rapidly moving lips, Jack Atlas lost all interest and turned back to Carly, who had been regarding the entire scene with a mixture of cool detachment and genuine concern. "Did I just hear what I _thought_ I just heard?" she inquired, her chin perched regally atop her gloved palm. "Your God wishes for you to initiate a second Zero Reverse for…what reason, exactly?"

"In order to free the non-intelligent Jibakushin that still lay dormant back in Peru, so far as I've been told," Jack informed her, looking pensive. "Now I don't entirely trust that that's the entire truth to the story – well, that, and the fact that apparently we'll get a few more volcanoes and a lot less burned-out building ruining the view from our citadel – but I _do_ trust the condor not to do anything that's not expressly in its own self-interest, so if bringing out a dozen or two new malevolent phantoms to get the job done would be non-conducive to maintaining the current power structure then our feathered friend would not be suggesting it in the first place."

"I suppose there is some truth to that," the Dark Queen acquiesced, although she still appeared uneasy.

"Well…at any rate, Smith seems to have things here under control for the most part, so I move that we proceed to your business within this city's boundaries," Jack asserted, beating his wings repeatedly to warm them up; while his earlier aerial maneuvers had come fairly naturally after so many years riding slipstreams and gliding around tracks (or in the older days, Satellite's backstreets) at breakneck speed, he was still getting rather used to the notion of providing his own source of propulsion. "Where is it, precisely, that you wish for us to pay pilgrimage?"

"The smoldering wreckage of what remains of the Arcadia Building," Carly answered promptly, her lip curling into a cruel sneer. "I know for a fact that that fool Divine kept extensive records of all the psychics in his employ, Aki Izayoi included. Given the ambient psychic energy that must still be floating around that site, I _might_ be able to forge a connection to that murderous Signer and teleport us to her current location. With any luck, she may even be gathered with some of her fellows at the moment…that should make matters easier for your Lord's Children to take care of them, at very least."

That such an occasion would also permit Jack to have that final conversation with Yusei or Crow he had mentioned to his wife in confidence went unspoken between them, though both were quite cognizant of its presence hanging over them as the Dark King lifted his Queen off her feet and began to proceed toward the ruins she had personally created only a month beforehand, taking a fairly scenic route so that they might have the chance to survey the beautiful remains of the city they had so thoroughly broken.

…A fact which provided quite a bit of good news for former pro-duelist Jin Himuro, emerging from the shadows he had ensconced himself within and shooting forth toward the exact same spot but along a much straighter path, now incredibly desperate to divulge the horrifying information he had just learned to both his dear friend and his new teammates before things grew too late.

[-]

There was a time when the sight of this young girl in such obviously torturous distress would have moved Harald Ledberg to spare her immediately, and damned be the consequences. Of course, he hadn't been _that_ foolish for at least five years or so.

His time in the Luftforsvaret – better known internationally as the Royal Norwegian Air Force – had been brief, but rewarding. Growing up as the privileged son of a wealthy aristocratic family that dated back to the days of the pre-Christian kings, Harald had always been something of a wide-eyed idealist, embracing the myths and legends of valiant heroism and noble sacrifice that pervaded his home country's folklore with a zealous passion and desiring nothing more than to prove _himself_ a great warrior in the only way a citizen in the modern Norway possibly could: by medium of the military.

But throughout his career of sailing upon the frigid winds like a ship propelled by the bounty of Njörd, Harald's focus had always been inexorably split. It had, after all, been at the mere age of nine – less than a year after both his parents had met tragic ends at the hands of the turbulent Scandinavian seas – that his family's lifelong servant Sebastian had introduced him to the Ledbergs' most heavily guarded secret: the physical incarnation of the King of the Gods himself, manifested into a card of gleaming white. Odin's mortal remains had changed with the times to reflect the new powers that governed the world with every passing century, and in the form of a Duel Monsters card the Lord of the Æsir was finally ready to bring about the Polar Gods' Second Coming upon this unworthy Earth. Harald was told outright that it was his destiny to ensure that this occurred…but as a boy, no more than a foolish dreamer lacking any sense of how the world truly worked, he had not been ready.

The Rune Eyes, the gleaming signs of pure power that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt which three individuals had been chosen to wield the trio of deities that had managed to survive the rest of the Norse Pantheon…Sebastian had informed him that his own would reveal itself in time, but that sacred mark had eluded him for so many years that it almost seemed like a great cosmic prank. And so he had thrown himself fully into his work with the Air Force, trying desperately to push the grander fate that had been hoisted upon him into the back of his mind; that way, being a comparatively mundane hero wouldn't just end up feeling like a fallback position.

But of course, that day that he and his squadron had nearly splattered against the Scandinavian Mountains had changed his entire perspective – both literally and figuratively. The literal part came into play due to the fact that the midair explosion that had blanketed their airfield in smoke and very nearly resulted in their rather unpleasant deaths had finally been enough to activate his dormant Rune Eye. Wreathed in a blazing cobalt blue, the ancient symbol provided his vision with clarity beyond his wildest imagination, allowing him to see straight through the smoke and prevent any casualties as easily as if he had been flying through crystal-clear air.

The figurative part had to do with how fundamentally his worldview had shifted in that singular moment, when the sleeping power of the very Gods themselves had awakened within him and given him fleeting but vivid images of the apocalyptic Twilight that lay so near in the future, if only he would fail to gather and unite the final two Rune-bearers with their destined Æsir and prevent the denizens of the Underworld from bringing about the End of All Things.

With these grand revelations in mind Harald's old dreams of personal heroism – and indeed, the generally optimistic viewpoint that they had represented – suddenly seemed unbearably ephemeral, and consequently the silver-haired aristocrat had taken but three days to resign from his position in the armed forces and begin his long mission to gather the cards representing his God's surviving sons Thor and Loki, as well as the two individuals somewhere out in the world fated to wield their boundless strength.

However, his initial trek across the planet in search of said individuals had been…unfruitful, at best. Tearing through one war-torn country after another only to find barren wastelands and starving children the world over, with nary a trace of divinity or even hope in sight, had crushed those last dregs of idealism that lingered across his brain, until only a pragmatic (if, he would readily admit, rather cynical) fixation on saving the world from the oncoming grip of oblivion remained.

Coming home to his family's estate a grown man and finding both Sebastian and Odin's physical incarnation waiting readily for him, Harald had decided to change tact in his hallowed quest, placing the majority of his focus on the one purely objective medium of investigation: the sciences. This was a decision he had discussed at length with the Sacred Emperor of the Polar Gods as soon as he had managed to figure out how to manifest his essence outside of the dueling field, and it was on his divine recommendation that the first Rune-bearer had settled on the subfield of biology, of which he was now – four years later – one of the world's foremost experts.

There were several reasons why this new profession seemed to suit the silver-haired crusader quite well, in both his God's estimation and his own. Primarily it was because both of them fashioned Harald to be something of Odin's mortal successor, and so just as Odin was All-Father to the entirety of creation, owing to his deeper roots in geotheistic paganism, so too was it Harald's rightful place to study and catalogue all that was found in nature's bounty. Life and death, wisdom and war, poetry and hunting…there were few, if any, aspects of the very process and cycle of life that Odin did not directly govern in some capacity, and so it was only natural that Harald would make those same connections in an effort to preserve them against the imminent disaster.

…Plus, since the Twilight of the Gods was supposed to be preceded by the fabled Fimbulvinter, a series of three cataclysmic winters said to bring war and death across the very winds, a working knowledge of protecting and propagating the life of the natural world _probably_ wasn't a bad idea either.

And lastly, thanks to both his ample training (the Ledberg family fortune had paid for only the best instructors and institutions the mortal world had to offer) and his unprecedented access to a literal deity, Harald had managed to put his new career to good use in his ultimate mission to gather the team that would avert the coming of Ragnarok, and in the course of doing so made some truly groundbreaking discoveries, unparalleled in the history of man. Simply put, he had just spent the past year-and-a-half doing the impossible: studying the biology of a God.

It had turned out, interestingly enough, that divine beings capable of manifesting their essences onto the physical plane required the synthesis of minerals and proteins to form their new bodies, just like any other creature in existence; as a cross-section of Odin's hair proved, they even had DNA. Of course, any scientist lacking the protection of a Rune Eye was likely to be driven stark-raving mad at the mere sight of such a thing, but for Harald it was the final piece of the puzzle he had required to finally track down the remaining two Polar Gods.

At university Harald's particular specialization had been in forensics, and those skills – combined with his Rune Eye constantly poking and nudging him in the right direction – had proved sufficient to allow the young Norwegian to follow the spiritual trails and laylines that were strewn about the planet, invisible to all but the very few who possessed true sight, and eventually isolate the pathways by which Thor and Loki had been carted to their modern locations. The guiding principal behind forensic science was that _everything_, from blood to footprints to semen, left traces…and apparently, Gods were no exception.

And so it came to pass that Harald Ledberg had meticulously tracked the genetic material of Odin's mighty sons and come across the consecrated temples within which their card-forms had been ensconced however many centuries beforehand; that he had _also_ managed to run into both of their destined wielders in the course of acquiring them might have been written off as mere coincidences, had Harald still believed in such things. Coming together as allies far more than as friends the trio had soon christened themselves "Team Ragnarok" and set about taking the European dueling circuit by storm, allowing them practice in both manifesting and utilizing their chosen deities in combat conditions.

This matter was what had dominated their minds for most of the last half-year or so, until the three surviving Lords of the Æsir had appeared before Harald, Dragan, and Brave just over a month prior and informed them gravely of the imminent threat of the King of the Underworld, and of the numerous other wicked Gods and demons also emerging from the deserts of Nazca as they spoke. However, preparations for a full-scale divine assault on both Japan and Peru had, regrettably, been abandoned after the Polar Gods had returned with an urgent update two days ago, informing the young men of the almighty Signer Jack Atlas' descent into the leader of the Underworld's malefic forces.

Unfortunately, this game-changing news had more-or-less forced the burgeoning team into running toward this confrontation half-cocked, but Harald had already made his decision – the only remotely logical decision left to them. Now that something like this had happened, every second that the Signers and Dark Signers were allowed to determine the world's fate was another second closer to Armageddon, and Harald simply couldn't take that chance.

And that, ultimately, was why he felt absolutely no sympathy for the ethereal girl currently screaming in utter agony before him.

Alas, Brave did not seem to see it that way, as he was now waving his arms frantically at Odin's impassive features and shouting, "Stop! Stop it, _now!_"

"Brave!" Harald exclaimed, grabbing his teammate by the shoulder and wheeling him around. "Did we not already discuss this at length?"

"I didn't realize any of the Signers would be ten-year-old girls, you motherfucking piece of shit!" Brave countered, his voice now hoarse but his Rune Eye burning fiercely. "I don't fucking care _what_ she is, you do _not_ do this kinda thing to a kid that age!"

"That is your only real weakness, Brave," Harald stated with a disappointed shake of his head. "Your bonds to individual humans – absolutely worthless, in the grand scheme of things – prevent you from ever truly seeing the greater good. Yes, this girl may be young, but take a look at those spirits that your God has, fortunately, managed to trap."

The silver-haired team leader then gestured to Ancient Fairy Dragon and Regulus, both of whom were being held captive in orbs of dark energy courtesy of Loki's spellcasting prowess, as well as being none-too-subtle in expressing how displeased this latest development was making them. The armored lion was bad enough, snarling and clawing at the barrier with twice the ferocity of the Earthly animal upon which he was based, but as for the Signer Dragon…well, being trapped and unable to intervene as her chosen emissary was slowly tortured to death wasn't exactly doing wonders for her demeanor. Within the pulsating bubble her typically beautiful features were expanding and contracting grotesquely, each part of her body slamming against the energy walls encasing her in turn with an intensity greater than anything Harald had ever seen before in his life. Fortunately however, this only made his point further.

"If just two of this Signer's Duel Spirits could be _this_ dangerous, just think how powerful an enemy she might become with a few dozen," Harald argued coldly. "Young she might be, but for the good of the world we _cannot_ allow her to live through this day."

"Err, even if that's right…do we really need to cause her _this_ much pain?" Dragan asked uneasily, shivering all over his body. "I mean, I get what you're saying and everything, but I agree with Brave; I can't just sit here and watch something like this. Either grant her a merciful death or stop this shit _now_."

"That point, at least, is well-made," Harald conceded, turning back up to his God and adding, "Polar God Sacred Emperor Odin, with all due respect, I humbly request that you cease punishing this Signer for every one of her mild transgressions and bring about her final judgment at this time."

To the Rune-bearers' immense surprise, however, Odin's response to this was to lower Gungnir and relieve Ruka of its stream of excruciating energy. Several heavy moments passed before the All-Father's low, rumbling voice uttered a mere three syllables of explanation: "I cannot."

"_What?_" Harald burst out, looking around confusedly at the Signer, who was now free and examining her astral form as if she was surprised to see it intact, the Duel Spirits, who were (thankfully) still imprisoned within their caliginous spheres, and his teammates, who were looking similarly bewildered. "Tell me, my Lord, what you mean of this!"

"She has committed no sins great enough for the ultimate sentence to be exacted, as of this point in her short life," the God elucidated with a distinct air of finality. "Her heart is purer than any human's that I have ever judged, in all the millennia that I have ever done so; even her _minor_ indiscretions add up to extraordinarily little. Were I to adjudicate upon her wrongdoings from now until the very end of time, I would still never be able to fully kill her."

"But…but that's…" Harald stammered, but he would never get the chance to complete that frazzled thought, for in that moment Ruka's Signer mark peaked and an ethereal female voice filled the atmosphere. The Norwegian national could not immediately discern either the source or the contents of the mystic tones, but he _did_ recognize the long bridge of crimson energy that shot forth toward the young Signer in the same instant, shattering Loki's shadowy bubbles effortlessly as it did.

"A pathway back to your original body! Ruka my dear, you must hurry!" Ancient Fairy Dragon cried out, already grasping the young girl's spiritual form and depositing her atop her servant's furred back. "Regulus, return Ruka to the origin of this conduit as quickly as possible! I shall hold off these interlopers."

"I won't allow that, Ancient Fairy Dragon!" the girl protested, not permitting her Spirit Partner to release her grip. "I've already fought to reclaim you once; I'm not letting you be lost to the darkness again!"

At that point, however, a second miraculous occurrence managed to take the decision out of all present parties' hands completely…although this miracle was rather darker in nature. For after at least twenty minutes of dormancy, the various globs of grayish goo splattered across the visible patch of the Atlantic were now throbbing and slowly congregating, coalescing into larger and larger pieces and eventually swirling together into physical structures. Though the ongoing process looked to be at least several minutes away from completion, none of the gathered humans, spirits, or Gods had any pretense over what was now going on, and it was a testament to how frightened it was making Harald that he _wasn't_ saying anything to stop the trio now desperately escaping along the disintegrating crimson road.

"…We got any better plans, mate?" Brave questioned after a few silent beats, all three of their Rune Eyes burning intensely as the King of the Underworld reconstituted itself before them, evidently ready for another round.

[-]

"…And so then, get this, that Hanasaki kid actually deluded himself into thinking that he _had_ superpowers while he was wearing the Zombire costume!" Tetsu Ushio related to Mikage Sagiri, who was chortling with as much grace as was possible for someone who had just spent the past fifteen minutes or so laughing her ass off. "Don't get me wrong though; he ended up getting the last laugh off of pretty much everybody else at our high school, minus guys like Yugi or Kaiba or Jonouchi of course. Hanasaki's Zombire obsession, once it died down to more reasonable levels, became incredibly lucrative once the American comic it came from was cancelled and all the merchandise became valued collector's items…they were the start to him making his fortune as an entertainment mogul. Ever hear of a little manga company called _Ziv Media_? It's by far the biggest one in the world, and it's also probably the _least_ profitable part of Hanasaki's media empire."

"You certainly went to school with some…interesting characters, Ushio-san," Mikage commented, clutching her gut and continuing to giggle breathlessly; if there was one thing she loved about the burly Security Officer, it was that she didn't feel any pressure to maintain a perfectly professional demeanor while they were together, as she did virtually every other second at either work or home. "And…I'm surprised, honestly, by how much you seem to have kept tabs on all of them. I don't think I know what became of half my high school girlfriends, much less the people I never really paid much attention to."

"Let's just say that I had…err…a long time to think about this kinda stuff," said Ushio, somewhat evasively. "I took a…nasty spill, of sorts, after Yugi set me straight in my senior year – my fault, mind you, not his – and when I came back to school I was no longer anywhere near the top of the social pyramid. So once I graduated and ended up with a whole slew of dead-end jobs and wasted opportunities, I wound up doing some research and taking a good look at what all the rest of my classmates had eventually made of themselves.

"Some, like the three I mentioned before, had become wildly successful duelists; some, like Hanasaki or Ryuji Otogi, made it huge in business; others simply married off and formed loving families," he recalled, shaking his head. "Seeing all those successful futures, and then comparing where _I_ had ended up however many years out of school…well, it gave me the motivational kick in the crotch that I had so desperately been needing. So I went back and earned the diploma I had slacked off of receiving back when I should've, set my sights on a goal – the Neo Domino Police Department, back before it got folded into the Public Security Maintenance Bureau – and worked my ass off to make myself presentable to 'em. It took a while for me to earn the right to wear this badge…but the day I finally managed it was the happiest day of my life. Though, end of the world aside, this one's turning out to be a decently strong contender as well."

Ushio then smiled broadly at his new – was it safe to say "girlfriend"? – and winked in what he hoped was a fairly charming manner, which her returning the pleasant grin and wrapping her hand around his seemed to confirm. The middle-aged Signer took that moment to reflect that if he had known talking to Mikage, particularly about such a difficult subject as his high school days, had been this easy, he would've tried it years ago.

"Nice story, dude. Can you tell me another?" came a dry voice from behind them, and Ushio had only about a second to check his rearview mirror before Crow Hogan zoomed up to meet their speed, sitting astride a brand-new ebony D-Wheel. "Namely, I'd like to know what the Hell the two of you are doing driving 'round the B.A.D. area."

"Well, what're _you_ doing here?" Ushio asked, not taking his eyes off the road. "I thought everyone was sitting tight back at the base."

"Hey, I asked you first," Crow protested, before relenting and appending, "But yeah, most of the gang are doing just that. I'm only out here to find my kids – a bunch of orphans I take care of around this district – and bring 'em back to safety. With those zombie fucks shambling around, these streets just aren't safe for children right now."

"Looks like we're on the same mission, then," the Security Officer informed him, his demeanor switching immediately to the businesslike tone he associated with fieldwork. "Saiga headed out looking for us a few hours ago but got ambushed by those ghouls, and we've been tracking his coordinates ever since. He updated us around fifteen minutes ago, however, to let us know that he ran into a group of kids hiding out in a warehouse and asking about you. They're surrounded, and time's running out."

"Then let's cut the chit-chat and get the Hell on this rescue," Crow responded tensely, his worst fears confirmed. "How far are we from this warehouse you mentioned?"

"About five minutes, give-or-take," answered Mikage, briefly consulting the PDA displaying their destination. "Saiga-san said that he was going to do his best to barricade and stall those wraiths for as long as he could, but…"

"But it'd be best if we didn't take any time to dawdle. Yeah, I gotcha," the younger man affirmed, pulling back slightly so he could follow the Security jeep's tail. "Anything else I should know?"

"Nope, but keep alert," Ushio advised. "We have no idea just how many of those things we're dealing with here."

The next several minutes passed in total silence, as all three of them mentally pictured the battle to which they were drawing inexorably closer and started to formulate some rough plans as to dealing with them. The fact that they were encountering none of the walking corpses along the way was both a curse and a blessing – a blessing because it was allowing them to shoot forward at high speeds without too much issue, but a curse in that the deathly quiet atmosphere was proving exceedingly unnerving now that no one was speaking.

As the trio drew nearer and nearer to their target and it came into full view, however, the explanation for the deserted streets became quite clear: every single monster in the general area, numbering at least two or three hundred, had converged upon this location…and more were seeping in from the direction of Jack's palace by the second.

"Shit…" both Ushio and Crow muttered simultaneously, pulling up into the shadows and hoping deeply that the rumblings of their respective engines had failed to catch the sunken cadavers' collective attention.

"So what do you think the best plan of attack is?" Crow whispered, dismounting from the Blackbird II and stowing it in an alleyway. "No way we can fight through all these guys on foot."

"It looks like they're forming a perimeter around a small rip in the wall," Mikage observed, squinting through the undead crowd toward a hole in their ranks, around which all of them were flanked. "I think that they must have broken through a slim section of Saiga-san's barricades, and are concentrating fully on that one spot."

"In that case, there's only one thing to do," Ushio declared, already switching gears. "Crow, get in here, and then we're gonna be backing up just enough to get some good momentum going. After that…"

"I like the way you think, Officer," Crow replied with a grin, piling into the backseat and bracing himself for the impact.

And then, after what seemed like hours of excruciating build-up, Tetsu Ushio shifted back into drive and slammed his foot onto the accelerator, slamming the jeep into and then straight through the throng of walking dead. Thrown to the side or else crushed into fine dust by his screeching tires, scores of zombies crumbled before the speeding Security jeep, until finally a pathway was forcibly carved toward and then straight through the hole in the warehouse's rusting walls.

Remarkably, only the front fender of the vehicle seemed to have taken any lasting damage from this ordeal, although the crash that finally brought them to a stop (impacting several large sacks of what appeared to be wood shavings at full speed) was enough to deploy the airbags, flip on a few warning lights, and throw the seatbelt-less Crow straight into the windshield.

"Fuck…please remind me to never, _ever_ get in a car with you again," Crow murmured, holding his aching head as he stumbled blindly out of the jeep and struggled to reorient himself. Once he did, however, the sight before him was not exactly one that he had been anticipating.

Saiga was indeed there, as were Kokoro's group, looking understandably frightened, and a small battalion of the ghoulish creatures. The person that Saiga was now fighting tooth-and-nail in single combat to prevent him from reaching the defenseless children, however, was a new face…and yet an infinitely familiar one.

There was no mistaking it: it was none other than his mentor's old partner, Samuel Bolger.

"Bolger!" Crow shouted without thinking. "Wh…What the Hell are you doing?"

The moment that Crow cried out Bolger waved his hand dismissively and sent Saiga flying into the opposite wall, where the kids gathered around and fearfully tried to resuscitate him. It was no good, however; the young man was out cold from both the stress of the impact and general exhaustion…not that Bolger seemed to care, however. His cold, steely brown eyes were centered fully upon Crow, and Crow alone.

"Crow Hogan…just the man I was looking to see," he pronounced dangerously, his tone almost unnaturally neutral and impassionate. "I've been tracking your movements for quite a while, and so I assumed that if I got to your adoptive brothers and sisters here in the B.A.D. district you would inevitably show yourself in order to save them. And it appears that that plan has borne out quite well, despite the presence of all these…uninvited guests."

"But I…wait a minute, why the fuck would you have been _tracking_ me? You're a motherfucking CEO!" Crow stammered, taking Saiga's place in between the man who had once been like a favorite uncle to him and the children he had apparently been using as nothing more than glorified bait.

"And like the head of any company, I am beholden to my creditors," Bolger told him, striding forward with short, deliberate steps. "One of _mine_ is particularly interested in one of our mutual friend Pearson's old ace cards, _Blackfeather Dragon_…or are you going to try and tell me that you _don't_ currently possess the Synchro Monster in question?"

At this insinuation Crow's hand jumped instinctively toward his belt, causing Bolger to don a smug smirk and wordlessly summon a few more of the hideous wraiths to back him up. "That card is of no concern to me any longer, however. As of today I possess no meaningful connections to Bolger & Company, and as such I owe nothing to my former investors; now, I play on a far grander stage. As do you, or so I've recently heard…_Signer_."

The malice with which Bolger spat that last word was making Crow internally sweat bullets, for after all, there _were_ quite a few slots now reopened on the opposing team, and that could very well mean…

"No…no, you can't be!" Crow objected, standing ready to fight at a moment's notice all the same. "You can't possibly be a…"

"I believe that you may have misunderstood me, Crow," the older man stated calmly, adjusting his glasses as if he were a professor nonchalantly chastising an unruly student. "I am not a full-fledged Dark Signer, as you may have mistaken me to be; my Master is, however."

As Samuel Bolger made this assertion he ran his hand unconsciously across his chest, drawing Crow's attention to a slowly pulsating feather of purest black sitting lodged within his ribs. And in that moment, it all clicked – Jack had made his speech to Neo Domino from within the middle of what looked like an enormous bird of prey, and the minions that had sprouted from the slimy exterior of the King of the Underworld had been similarly avian in appearance. That left only one possible source on Earth for this ebony plume…

"Jack must have you under his control, Bolger!" yelled Crow, trying to make a grab at the eerily glowing feather, only for it to singe his hand and activate his sign as soon as he drew near. "Argh…you gotta fight it, man! I know this isn't the real you!"

"Are you so sure, young Signer?" Bolger inquired, now nearly nose-to-nose with his opposition. "Or did you ever really know me very well at all? Based on the insignia on that jeep you came bursting in here with, I'd wager that your new compatriots are members of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau…somewhat curious, but I shall not question your strange bedfellows if you shall not question mine. Now, ask them what they know about Robert Pearson's death."

"It's a case that has stayed open for years without any leads, if I remember correctly," Mikage answered, moving to Crow's side along with Ushio now that the pair of them had finally managed to extricate themselves from the crashed vehicle. "The only new clue we've managed to uncover in recent months was that at least one witness observed the KaibaCorp experimental card _Blood Mephist_ being played by the murderer moments before Pearson-san's death, but of course the stolen prototype has never shown up again, to our knowledge at least. But what does this have to do with anything?"

Instead of replying with words, Bolger merely fished through his pocket and tossed it to Crow's feet, his lip curling cruelly. Based on context the orange-haired young man had little doubt over what the card in question could possibly be, but after a moment's hesitation he looked down all the same to see the mad grin of _Blood Mephist_ reflected back at him, sitting there plain as day.

"You…you _bastard!_" Crow screamed, diving into Bolger's midsection and tackling him to the ground. Before he could begin pummeling the living crap out of the man, however, several of the zombies grabbed him roughly from behind and pulled him away, Crow instinctively responding by bashing their faces in and kicking wide fissures in their brittle bodies. "He was…your best friend…" Crow gasped out as he fought off the incoming creatures, Ushio providing back-up and Mikage taking over the task of shielding the traumatized children, "…and you…pay him back…by _murdering_ him?"

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it, Signer whelp," bellowed a deep and deeply disturbing voice from within the crowd of ghouls, which parted obsequiously in order to permit two taller figures to march into the warehouse – a slender gentleman wearing teacher's robes and a hulking beast of a man bedecked in a swishing trench coat.

"Back off, you two," Bolger ordered warningly. "None of these here are _your_ targets."

"Perhaps, but I am under orders from the Master to locate the Signers' secret base," the giant reasoned. "Surely, at least _one_ of these fools must have some clue where it is."

"And as my target is but a young girl, and a frail and vulnerable one at that, I find it quite likely that she will be left in said base at all times that the Signers do not have express need of her services," the other added, his tone utterly flat but his eyes glinting with pure madness. "As such, it would appear to be in my best interest to stick alongside my compatriot here until his own mission is completed, which means dealing with this motley crew of Satellite scum, Security Officers, and mewling brats. The Signer Crow Hogan is the only man to whom you may lay claim, Bolger; all the others are fair game."

"Especially since I've got something of a score to settle with _these_ two," chimed in the brute once more, sneering inhumanly at Tetsu Ushio. "The bitch who shattered my world and the piece of shit that shattered _me_…show me where your friends are hiding, and I _might_ let you two off with quick, painless deaths. How about snapping your fucking necks with my bare hands? Yeah, nice and clean…"

"Unfortunately for you, bastard, that score goes both ways!" shouted an enraged Ushio, instantly drawing his service pistol and training it on each of the three feather-infected individuals in turn. "Put your hands behind your head and step back, _now!_ And call off those undead freaks while you're at it!"

"Are we even still affected by bullets right now?" the man dressed as a professor posed to his fellows thoughtfully. "You know, I'm really not sure."

The larger man, however, didn't seem to have much of an academic interest in finding out, as he turned sharply to his partner and roared, "Adler, get me the Hell outta here! I'm not going back into the darkness, not this fucking soon! I'm _not!_"

"Calm down, you mulish oaf!" he called out vainly, but the giant was already grasping him by the arm and forcing his hand to trace a shimmering circle in the air, until a white expanse stretched beside them as if viewed through a porthole. "What is _wrong_ with you?" he screeched, every ounce of his façade of composure falling away in an instant. "I fucking told you – the Master only gave me enough energy to generate _one_ of those rifts! I was saving it to duel the little bitch in the only appropriate location!"

"Well, I'm stealing your idea. Or did you actually expect someone like me to 'play nice with others'?" the trench coat-wearer sneered, glancing around for something before his eyes alighted on Saiga's unconscious form. In a flash of movement that was almost but not entirely inhuman he proceeded to barrel past Crow, Mikage, and the defenseless kids, kicking two of the boys aside in order to take hold of the grizzled young man as an apparently suitable hostage and heaving him through the portal he had forced his partner to generate, before beginning to trot back to it himself. Ushio kept his weapon trained on the man as he walked, but as long as he was standing so near the children he couldn't fire in good conscience.

"If you want a rematch without the muzzle of a gun coming between us, cocksucker, then I would suggest following me," he growled, punctuating the lewd epithet with a shark bark of a laugh. "Otherwise, I think I'm gonna make a new coat out of your young friend's bloody bones…this one here _is_ getting pretty old by now."

And with that the cackling madman stepped through the gateway, causing it to start to bend and gradually shrink. Now was crunch-time, the first major decision Tetsu Ushio would have to make as a Signer – abandon Saiga to that monster's nonexistent mercy, or leave Crow and Mikage alone to protect the kids from _these_ psychopaths?

"Ushio, _go!_" Crow commanded, pointing toward the collapsing rift. "I'll take care of things here, _you_ save Saiga!"

Instinctively Ushio took this as an order and followed it accordingly, hurtling toward the nearly closed portal and diving through it at the last moment, tossing his gun to Crow as he did. Somewhat timorously he pointed it back at the two remaining feather-bearers with trembling hands; despite his criminal past he had never actually handled one of these things before, and it showed.

"Unlike our less-than-esteemed colleague, neither of us are whimpering in fear at the mere sight of a pistol…particularly one wielded by someone so clearly inexperienced," Bolger said with a condescending shake of his head. "But nevertheless, there is no need for any more of this senseless violence. Crow, my only mission here is to duel you to the death; nothing else concerns me. My associate here, Professor Frank Adler, is charged with the exact same missive, but in regards to the Signer girl Ruka. As such, now that the most volatile members of our respective parties are out of the picture, I would like to propose a simple solution to all of our needs…one that would allow those children in your care to return to safety with nary an ounce of harm done to them."

"…What is it?" Crow asked after a moment, lowering the gun in spite of himself.

"You and I shall conduct a duel here and now," he explained, before gesturing to the throng of zombies and causing them to part once more. "Meanwhile, that Security woman will take the children with her to your secret headquarters and deposit them there…with Professor Adler in-tow. After all, once he locates this Ruka girl, the rest of your brood shall be of no consequence to him…isn't that right, Adler?"

Professor Frank, who was still raving and sputtering frantically at the notion of having his special gift usurped by his erstwhile compatriot, apparently realized at this point that some measure of sanity would be conducive to his case, and so he immediately straightened up and stated evenly, "That is completely correct. I shall even swear it – as long as I am granted full access to the Signer Ruka for the purposes of dueling her in a Yami no Game, no harm or injury whatsoever shall befall any of these…others."

"Don't listen to him, Crow Nii-san!" Daichi exclaimed immediately, still nursing the wound from where the brutish giant had driven his boot into his stomach.

"Yeah, he's just trying to trick you!" Hikari agreed. "Don't let him hurt that Ruka girl!"

Crow's eyes, however, met Mikage's golden ones, and after a moment he observed her give a fraction of a nod and quite plainly mouth, "I have a plan." The question, then, was whether he trusted this virtually unknown woman's judgment in ensuring the protection of his kids…but then again, with hundreds of those creatures surrounding the building and two madmen standing five feet from them and demanding an answer, it wasn't exactly as though he had much of a choice.

"…Alright, fine," he finally yielded, pulling out his deck of trusty Black Feathers and praying desperately that they would come through for him one last time. "You two…have got yourselves a deal."

[-]

However Judai's "spell" (for lack of a better word) on his D-Wheel had worked, all Yusei knew was that he had been failing to get it activated for the better part of an hour.

Merely touching the motorcycle clearly wasn't sufficient, given that he had been in direct contact with it all this time; riding it around seemed to yield a more agreeable reaction, particularly as he accelerated to higher and higher speeds, but the roads of Neo Domino were currently so clogged with rubble and debris that keeping his bike at a particular rate was proving decidedly difficult. Unable to obtain any more than a vague glow around his D-Wheel whenever he managed to top a hundred kilometers per hour, Yusei had eventually decided to give himself a break to mull this matter over further, and consequently he was now ambling about the ruins of the Arcadia Building and taking in the sight of the city he had idealized all his life…fully and thoroughly broken.

Things had been so much simpler just two days ago, even with the imminent prospect of Armageddon hanging directly over all of their heads. Jack had been a true friend that their informal family had recently reacquired with open arms, instead of a mad dictator quite literally Hell-bent on killing everyone on Earth; Aki had been well on the road to recovery from the pains of her past, instead of wallowing in the misery of the last atrocity Divine had managed to wring out of her before his own untimely demise; even Rua and Ruka, young and (relatively) innocent as they were, seemed to have been sobered up quite a bit by the tragedies that had befallen their small group in recent days and nights.

And on top of all of that, Yusei had been forced by everyone from his father's ghost to a middle-aged duelist claiming to embody the "True Darkness" of the Universe to alter his very conception of the cosmos about ten times since Jack's death…an experience that was still leaving him reeling with alternating bouts of confusion, anger, and incalculable grief. That he was still able to function even remotely as the Signers' leader – although with Sherry and Mizoguchi lost somewhere in the Satellite and the _Z-One_ card still in their possession, it wasn't like his latest excursion away from the team had really accomplished much of anything, anyway – was frankly an astonishment.

Lost in these thoughts, Yusei didn't hear the distinctive sound of beating wings until their owner was nearly upon him, and even then he only managed to look in the correct direction just in time to observe a simultaneously magnificent and yet horrifying sight touch down before him, the ample wind surrounding them coming together to collapse around the figure as it swept down to the Earthly plane with a magnanimous demeanor that Yusei recognized immediately.

The figure making its grand descent onto the uneven ground was undoubtedly Jack Atlas, but several things had changed about him since their last encounter back in Misty's amusement park; unfortunately, none of them the changes that Yusei had been hoping for.

Most distinctively Jack now sported two broad black wings, jutting out from beneath his shoulder blades and sweeping around him as expertly as if he had been wielding them all his life. His costume, too, had changed; his old bloodstained riding suit had been exchanged for an ebony trench coat featuring spikes at certain extremities and a royal violet trim, with a Duel Disk roughly resembling Kiryu's to match. But the whites of his eyes were still inverted into wide pools of utter emptiness; his face was still contorted into the sadistic grin that his human self, even at its most arrogant, wouldn't have worn; and he was still carrying within his broad arms the similarly adorned woman whose human self was currently pictured within Yusei's breast pocket, her own face as dispassionate and yet monstrously cruel as it had been on every one of the (admittedly sparse) occasions that he had seen her prior.

Wordlessly Jack released the Dark Signer who had once been Carly Nagisa and strode boldly toward his old friend, holding up a great imperious hand when Yusei's hand instinctively flew to his deck. "There will be a time and a place for that, Yusei, and this is neither," he announced after a few moments, as self-confidently as if he was handing down a regal decree.

"Then what exactly _do_ you want, Jack?" Yusei Fudo asked tersely, not wanting to let his guard down for even a moment, given his current level of emotional…precariousness.

"Well…" Jack Atlas replied, telekinetically summoning a table and a couple of chairs from a nearby café, "Would you believe that I simply wish to talk?"

[-]

A/N: Huzzah, new chapter time! Considering how long I took to seriously get to work on this one, owing to a fair smattering of side-projects taking precedence in the early days of the New Year (nearly the entirety of this thing was written in the space of about a month), I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with how this one turned out. Fortunately, Spring Break has been quite helpful in allowing me to finally put this rather pivotal baby to rest. XD

Of course, between Chapter 12's publishing and this one's, quite a bit has been going on in the franchise. First and foremost, 5D's is only a short handful of episodes away from coming to its conclusion – which I await with bated breath – and being replaced with ZeXal, which I am…well, to put it mildly, not all that thrilled about. But hey, shit happens…series come and series go, Circle of Life and whatnot, yada yada yada…although seriously, do the main character designs (other than maybe Akari and Astral) _have_ to look so Goddamn ugly? XP

Eh, hopefully y'all will be sticking around past the current series' lifetime, since this story (and its currently planned sequel) still have at least another couple of years left in them, LOL.

As for the most recent developments that have come about in the Arc Cradle storyline, from Rua being the Sixth Signer to the revelation of ZONE's true identity…to forestall questions, yes, _everything_ established in the anime's canon is still considered canon in the "My Dark King" Universe as well, unless of course it would be changed by the single action of Carly's glasses not dropping out of Jack's riding suit at the end of Episode 58. Yliaster, including ZONE, Aporia/The Three Emperors, Antinomy/Bruno, and Paradox, still has a massive role to play in how this Universe ultimately bores out, and we'll be seeing more of them at…well, some point, anyway.

Oh, and incidentally, since this misconception has become fairly commonplace among Yu-Gi-Oh! forumgoers…the man in the white suit who convinced Rudger to look into the light of Momentum was _not_ ZONE, and least not in this Universe. For one thing, that would either require ZONE to stay young for an incredibly long time (his future is confirmed by outside materials to take place centuries after the current time period), or else to be able to time travel outside of the Arc Cradle far earlier than he should've been able to, which sorta defeats the purpose of the Circuit in the first place. So in this story at least, the two men are two separate characters…and indeed, we'll be seeing White Tux Guy in action fairly soon, based on my current plans.

Alright, now that that's all out of the way, I'd like to get to the only part of the Author's Notes a good swath of you probably care about: reviewer shout-outs! The eleven people who reviewed this time around have my utmost gratitude and appreciation, so praise be to Zaconator and Zackis, Caron1111, Sara Crewe, KaliAnn, silverspetz, [random-totally-anonymous-person-that-wrote-something-in-Japanese], JillRG, Viewtiful Jeff, Xoroth, WhiteAsukaLover, and JackAtlasBitch for your assorted helpings of praise, constructive criticism, and just general willingness to give me feedback. XD

One additional, absolutely massive bag of kudos must go to Viewtiful Jeff for helping me to hammer out a few snags in my upcoming plans for this story, as well as making me the luckiest fanfiction writer this side of the Mississippi by creating the ultimate honor for a Troper like myself: giving "My Dark King" _it's own TV Tropes page_. This wonderful little piece of analytical dissection can be found here (minus the spaces, of course):

http:/ tv tropes. org/ pmwiki/ pm wiki. php/ Fanfic/ MyDarkKing

As such, I greatly encourage each and every one of my loyal readers and reviewers to add Tropes to this page as necessary; by design I make this story rather quite "Troperiffic," so feel free to add as many Tropes, whether positive or negative ("Said Bookisms" _soooo_ needs to be there) whenever you see them crop up, plus whatever Crowning Moments, Tearjerkers, or Narm you happen to feel deserve mention as well. WMG and JBM are my favorite parts of TV Tropes, incidentally, so don't shy away from dabbling in those as well.

Keep in mind that this page's existence was a major impetus for my rapid work on Chapter 13 over the past several weeks, as I simply couldn't wait to share its awesomeness with all the Tropers (and Hell, non-Tropers) in my audience. Given this, getting the page bustling with activity would be an excellent way to keep my butt in gear about updates. Wink wink, nudge nudge, all that stuffs. ;)

Oh, and if any of this seems Egregiously (take a drink!) self-aggrandizing, that's probably because…well, it kinda is, LOL. Honestly, if you're planning to place "Small Name Big Ego" under the YMMV tab…well, yeh probably wouldn't be half-wrong. ;P

And now with that all said and done, moving onto the specific reviewer responses…

**Sara Crewe:** Since it can't possibly be said enough, I love yeh babe, and thank you infinitely for inspiring my creative side every day that we're together. :3

**KaliAnn:** "Kizuna" is, roughly, "bonds" in Japanese. In the original version, Yusei says it about twice a sentence, and the other members of Team 5D's aren't much better. XD

"The German," aka Nicolas, is the leader of Team Catastrophe, the second team that Yusei and the gang face off against in the WRGP. They were the guys using Placido's "Cards of Darkness" in order to force opposing duelists (including Andore, Jean, Aki, and Crow) into crashing, allowing them to win by default, although Nicolas ends up hoisted by his own petard once his gambit against Jack backfires spectacularly and Placido abandons them to enact his "Battle Royale Mode" back-up plan.

**silverspetz:** This is probably the single most critical review I've had to deal with on this site so far, which happens to make me very, very happy. Makes me feel a little more big-time to get some real targeted critiquing like this one, LOL.

None of these points are, truthfully, without merit, but I will offer a few tempered responses to each…

The main justification I'll offer up to the issue of the copious amounts of character death is that I'm trying to write a War fic/Apocalypse fic here, and both of those have tremendously high stakes where a whole lot of life _is_ threatened. I simply couldn't introduce the King of the Underworld with the sheer level of power that it has in this Universe and not have it kill scores of people during its rampages – or worse, have all the deaths "conveniently" miss any named characters. That sort of remarkably good fortune would've felt supremely unbelievable to me.

Now at the same time, killing off a character rather obviously leaves them unable to be used for future purposes (barring people like the Dark Signers or Professor Fudo, of course), which is why most of the deaths happened to have been handed to characters without a whole lot of interesting stories to tell. Why kill off someone like Bolger instead of someone like Takasu, if the same amount of emotional punch (or as you correctly noted, lack thereof) is derived from either? Or, if we spare both, we're left with a rather pansified God of Destruction, since It managed to stampede through an entire city and barely kill anybody besides some nameless, faceless extras. Even for very minor characters, it's important to me that every victim gets a face applied to them, even if only for a moment. But if that still doesn't work for you, I can certainly see and understand where you're coming from.

Now, on the issues of the "off-screen" deaths, I'd just like to handle a couple minor nitpicks first. For starters, it is Ryo, _not_ Sho that has been stated among Yliaster's victims; I have neither confirmed nor denied Sho's current survival as of now (although honestly, if a major GX character hasn't been established as definitively dead at this point then you can generally lean toward them being alive). As for your other quibble, while Misawa was indeed last seen choosing to stay with Tania in the Spirit World I cannot _possibly_ see that relationship as having worked out in the end, given that it began with, y'know, rape and all. In my mind the two eventually broke up and Misawa returned to the human world to take up a teaching position, wherein he became Professor Fudo's mentor and set the groundwork for what would eventually become M.I.D.S. (seriously, Zweinstein's work in "duel physics" just _has_ to be related to the discovery of Momentum).

To the issue of substance, however…well, keep in mind that I am juggling a cast of dozens upon dozens upon _dozens _of characters right now, encompassing virtually the entirety of the 5D's era of the overall Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe. As such, my primary reason for "pre-killing-off" a significant portion of GX's main cast is one of practicality; I simply wouldn't be able to effectively handle an entire separate cast of legacy characters, so the trade-off for having Judai, Manjoume, Asuka, and the rest in this story at all is to either have the others alive but unconcerned about the current crisis (something totally unbelievable for heroes like Edo or Kenzan) or dead. Frankly, we're over twenty years after GX's finale; not all of these guys are going to survive to the current day in such a dangerous world, particularly with people like Yliaster gunning after them.

And finally, on the notion of "tone"…okay, I'll admit, this complaint doesn't really bother me in the least. Am I interested in telling a story that keeps true to the characters and themes of the original property? Absolutely. Am I interested in restricting its tone to solely that of a "kid's show," to the point of being constrained by it? Not really.

Now, moving to the next subject…yeah, I struggled with myself on this issue for days, precisely because "black angel wings" _is_ an annoyingly overused cliché and is almost never pulled off well. There are at least a couple reasons why I think it works a _little_ better here than it does in most works, predominately the fact that Jack is currently a corpse being propped up by a giant bird, so if he was gonna gain any "special power" on the level of Rudger's brainwashing spiders then wings would be the natural choice. In any event, they were added predominately for practical reasons over anything else; they add extra mobility, give Wiraqocha Rasca a decently unique and suitably creepy method of ensnaring Its Children, and just generally give Jack that little added visual punch of inhumanity. But this is definitely one issue where I'll _entirely_ understand the detractors' point of view.

As for your last point, however…well, I can understand this well enough, but I'm afraid I can't really sympathize. Yes, expecting someone to read a 30,000-word chapter in a single sitting is bloody ridiculous…but no one's saying you _have_ to read it in a single sitting anyway. The chapters are merely ways for me to organize a certain set of scenes, preferably one that moves along every active subplot amongst my Loads and Loads of Characters at least a space or two; they are _not_ meant to prevent you from reading at your own pace. So to be perfectly honest, so long as the cast I'm juggling remains this enormous, continue to expect chapters of roughly this length, and adjust your reading style accordingly. Or not…'tis entirely up to you. XD

**Viewtiful Jeff:** Now of course I already sent you these thoughts by PM a while back (hence why these responses are going to look somewhat oddly formatted compared with the rest of the Author's Note), but I'm gonna re-post 'em here for the sake of thoroughness…

While Ushio and Player Killer both being DM-era characters is certainly part of the parallelism that I am attempting to draw between them, it is only a small part of the story. Think about it for a second, and the more particular similarity in their respective histories (as I interpret them, at least) should become fairly clear.

Team Catastrophe utilized at least one "Hidden Knight" that wasn't a Card of Darkness, indicating that they were their shared deck theme before Placido appeared, and the middle Emperor merely manifested the Cards into forms that would be inconspicuous in the trio's already-existing decks. So unless I get a better idea in the interim, Nicolas will be using a Hidden Knight Deck...most of which, by necessity, will have to be composed of original cards. Unless you or any of my other readers have a better idea, LOL; this is one area where I'm perfectly open to suggestions. XD

Frank is batshit insane enough to have no bloody clue what actually went on once things went to Hell-in-a-hand-basket in the Spirit World; all he remembers is that he discovered his lifelong dream, an enormous storm picked up, and the next thing he knew he was waking up across from Ruka, his opportunity snatched away. Left to stew on that ever since, it's little wonder that he ended up piling all his blame on her.

I have absolutely no idea why, but I'm actually quite fond of Clark, flat and one-note as he was. In any event, his copious exposure to Momentum is both the reason why the Reaper became interested in him in the first place, and how he was able to control him so easily. And as for the glasses thing...indeed, the anticlimax you're probably feeling is entirely intentional. The notion that all the Hell that the world is going through is a direct result of one toady playing God and tweaking such a minor detail in history tickles me to no end.

I have a fairly good idea on how to reconcile Rua's story with what I have established so far in the "My Dark King" Universe, and I guarantee you that it's an explanation that will turn some heads. _Z-One_ is a more difficult case…I think you and the rest of my readership will just kinda have to go along with the idea that it's far, far, _far_ more important in my interpretation of canon than it turned out to be in canon itself. The effect will remain the same, I assure you…but that unassuming little Spell is holding some very, err, unique secrets within it.

Rest assured that our first glimpse of Team Ragnarok was just that: a glimpse. I had a single scene to outline their basic characterizations, contrast them from each other, and demonstrate the underlying sense of conflict that differentiates them from the other major teams in this story (you are correct in surmising that the trio has only been together for a short period at this point, as demonstrated through Harald's introspective here). But that is hardly where I will leave their characters' developments, and so you can look forward to some more detailed material from our favorite Norwegians as their arcs progress.

The Satellite isn't mapped very well, given the reputation it holds with the local government, and in any event the King of the Underworld's rampage has left the island's geography almost entirely unrecognizable. Couple that with the fact that Leo hasn't been home in years, and I'd certainly buy that he would not be able to locate his home in any traditional manner – hence the usefulness of Dojima's mark.

Having spent the last couple of decades honing and practicing the abilities of Haou…yeah, Judai is pretty much the definition of badass at this point, despite my general distaste for his pre-Season 4 characterization nearly across the board. He's definitely got some fun stuff lined-up down the road, and I'm greatly looking forward to his first solo scene, which should be cropping up near the start of the next chapter.

**Xoroth:** The Sangenma are still technically usable in a normal duel, but with their Duel Spirits dead they no longer possess any of their demonic powers. They're just regular pieces of cardboard at this point, for good and for ill.

Oh, and as Judai confirmed earlier in the chapter, Yugi is most certainly alive, though in hiding. The search for his whereabouts is set to become a major plot-point in the eventual sequel.

**WhiteAsukaLover:** Why _wouldn't_ Player Killer still be alive, LOL? If he was around his early thirties or so in Duelist Kingdom, he would be in his early-to-mid-sixties as of the 5D's era, which is exactly what he is in this story. Thanks to futuristic medicine and his incredibly active lifestyle, however, he looks about 10-15 years younger than he actually is.

**JackAtlasBitch:** Quite apart from storytelling considerations, Carly and Jack are both kinda sorta…dead, and consequently neither is currently producing live ova/sperm, respectively. As such, Carly literally _cannot_ get pregnant; not that she would particularly _want_ to at this point, anyway. XD

[-]

And now, before I conclude this chapter with my usual teaser info, I'd like to take a few moments to offer condolence and well-wishes to all the men, women, and children that have been displaced or injured by the disaster in Japan, as well as all other affected nations and territories across the Pacific. I usually try to keep my views on world events out of this story, but as we all owe our enjoyment of this sometimes brilliant, sometimes disappointing, but _never _uninteresting series to the copious creative talent of the nation of Japan (and indeed, quite a wide swath or our entertainment in general), I feel I would be remiss if I did not at least carve out a small section of this Author's Note to call for all comfortably living human beings in my readership to ensure that the disaster organizations working valiantly to save the body, heart, and soul of a great country continue to have the funds necessary to do so. As I've often said in the past, throwing money at problems may not always solve them completely…but it's usually a pretty damn good first step.

Thank you all, and I wish all of you the greatest of years for the remainder of 2011.

[-]

Uneasy alliances, unexpected betrayals, and perhaps the most important conversation ever to take place across a café table; the only thing certain in the next chapter of the "Dark King" saga is that _nothing_ is. The grand plans of the forces of the Underworld have, to all appearances, finally been borne out…but the progress made against it continues to come in short bursts and frequent backslides, with many of the agents of good reduced to merely fighting for survival in an increasingly chaotic world. Things are certainly going to get worse before they get better, so keep on reading and reviewing, and stayed tuned for Chapter 14: _Revolutions_.

– Masterdramon


	14. Revolutions

**My Dark King – Chapter 14: Revolutions**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

"You may now take leave of us, Professor Adler," Samuel Bolger stated calmly, now snapping his own deck into the open slot in his Duel Disk and activating it with very little flourish. "Bring as many of our Master's servants as you wish; I no longer have need of them."

"And are you implying that I _do_?" Professor Frank Adler retorted with an understated grimace. "I believe that I can handle a handful of infants and this pitiful dame on my own, if you please. Their numbers would much be much better utilized by returning them to street-patrol duties."

"Well…perhaps," Bolger acceded. "Disperse them as you see fit before you depart, then; I would advise that you send a battalion or two back to the Reaper, however, so as to update him on our progress."

"Your suggestion is well-taken, Bolger," responded Professor Frank, wordlessly relaying those orders to the nearest half-dozen or so zombies. "And with that out of the way, come along, woman. It is time for us to return to your base of operations…and for the hour of my vengeance to finally be realized.

"We don't wanna go!" Kokoro shouted, her fingers balled up into tiny fists in her consternation. "Crow Nii-san, you need to stop him! This…this isn't like you!"

As the other children chimed in with their own words of encouragement for Crow and derision for Frank and Bolger, however, the orange-haired teenager slowly turned away from them and said in pained, hoarse tones, "You guys need to trust Mikage, alright? I…need to stay here and finish this."

"Be careful, Crow-san," Mikage told him in a similarly tremulous voice as she hugged him goodbye, before gently gathering the kids and guiding them out of the warehouse in single-file, with a disturbingly calm Professor Frank heading up the procession. Having been expressly instructed to do so by their big brother the children were not protesting vocally, but it was abundantly clear from their expressions that not one of them was happy about how events were progressing.

"Indeed, Crow Hogan. 'Being careful' would be an excellent idea right about now," Bolger repeated, drawing his opening hand and allowing the energy within his feather to peak as he did. Crow was thus forced to avert his eyes from his departing kids and turn back to his opponent once more by a ring of bluish fire that erupted around them at Bolger's silent command. "And now, as the challenging party, I shall take the first move. Draw." Scrutinizing his hand without a shred of passion, the older man then added, "I place two cards face-down, and Set one monster in Defense Mode. Turn end."

"That's all you got? I was expecting a bit more from Satellite's former second-best," Crow taunted, mostly to cover the fact that he was still shivering with anxiety and dread over how this situation was turning out. Nerve, Blitz, and the rest had been right; it had been fucking stupid of him to just jump into this botched rescue attempt without any semblance of a plan, and now he was paying dearly for it.

So preoccupied was Crow Hogan with this matter, in fact, that he failed to notice that both his hands were now completely free for dueling, Ushio's service pistol no longer dangling within his loose grip.

[-]

This was among the weirdest sensations that Yusei Fudo had ever experienced in his life…and considering he had just now gone grave-digging with a wandering vagrant claiming to be more-or-less a physical God, _that_ was saying something.

As it was the Signer leader was currently seated in the ruins of what must've been the Arcadia Building's lobby, his elbows resting upon a pristinely clothed café table and his eyes set upon his former best friend, who was flexing his recently acquired appendages and twirling around a coffee cup in apparent boredom. His paramour, meanwhile, seemed to be fully and completely uninterested in all matters of Yusei Fudo, ambling around the surrounding ruins in silence and occasionally making searching motions similar to Judai's.

"So…err…how are things lately?" Yusei asked after a protracted silence, his fingers twitching nervously. Jack Atlas merely raised his eyebrows.

"…Small talk, Yusei?" he questioned incredulously. "Really?"

"Well, _you_ were the one who wanted to talk here in the first place," Yusei countered, before sighing and shaking his head. "But I guess, if I'll be honest…I've just got so _many_ questions that I scarcely know where to begin. I…wasn't expecting to see you again like this, Jack. You know, outside of a duel, I mean…"

"Then let's start hearing them," Jack grunted, his arms crossed impatiently.

Sighing again, Yusei's gaze turned to the Dark King's fidgeting wings and began afresh with, "Well, to start out with…where in the world did you get _those?_"

"I've switched Gods, so to speak, since we last crossed paths," Jack answered, still playing absently with the cup. "That fool Goodwin got the bright idea to try and usurp the powers of both light and darkness, by absorbing the marks of both. I…relieved him of one of the marks in question, and with it, ensured my immortality."

"Immortality?" Yusei blurted out, his eyes bulging at his old friend's turn of phrase. "But Jack, you're…I mean…"

"I may _technically_ be dead, Yusei, but I assure you that I remain functionally immortal in every respect that actually matters," Jack told him, his own blackened eyes narrowed intensely. "There's not all that much to miss about human life, anyway. I have everything I could ever need _or_ desire, and I have it all for eternity…so if you're planning on trying to 'talk me around' – and don't deny it, I know that's precisely what you've been intending to do from the moment you saw me slay Divine – then forget it. You're no savior, Yusei…not in my case."

"But…I mean, don't you miss _any_ of it?" Yusei pressed, gesturing to the porcelain object still twirling around the Dark King's finger. "Not even the little things? Like coffee…you used to lead Crow and me in pilfering a few cupfuls from Martha whenever she managed to pick up a can or two, remember? Or Hell, cup ramen – all those days in the orphanage, the three of us sharing a carton while we dueled with whatever random cards we managed to find lying around? You can't tell me those memories mean nothing to you…that your own _life_ means nothing to you!"

"That's _precisely_ what I'm saying," Jack declared insistently, placing the cup back onto the table only to smash it with his fist a moment later. "The human Jack Atlas was weak, and lacked the strength to do what needed to be done! At least this way I'm finally _happy_, which is more than I can say for _any_ part of my worthless, Godforsaken life! Wasting away in a slum with no hope of a future, or preening around as some glamorous pawn on a glass throne…compared to bringing the entire _world_ under my heel, alongside the only being on Earth I still give half a damn about. Any man with even the _slightest_ amount of pride would have chosen the same."

"And…here we get to the crux of the matter, I think," Yusei replied carefully, glancing over Jack's shoulder to make sure that the other Dark Signer was out of earshot. "That woman…who _is_ she to you, exactly?"

"My wife," Jack informed him nonchalantly. "Carly is the love of my eternal life-that-is-death, and my Dark Queen, the only person in all the cosmos worthy of sharing in the bounties of my unholy reign."

This latest declaration took Yusei somewhat aback – he had never thought of Jack, even in life, as a particularly sexual being, much less a romantic one. And as for what it _implied_…

Well, it at least explained why Jack had been so reticent to speak about the Dark Signer who bore the mark of the hummingbird, and yet had, by Aki's account, gone running after the woman in a stunned haze as soon as Yusei had similarly gone off chasing Rudger. Being that time had been short and the Signer leader had had his own Dark Signer to worry about (_two_, in fact), Yusei had never taken the opportunity to follow-up on this bit of information, but now it all clicked.

Withdrawing the picture of Carly's smiling human self that he had printed from her obituary, the stoic teenager slid it across the table and said, "These glasses that she's wearing here, at her graduation…these are the pair you spent all those afternoons at Goodwin's mansion staring at, aren't they?"

"…Where did you get this?" Jack demanded as he scrunched his brow; his former best friend pulling out a photograph of his wife that he had never seen before was doing little to curb his rapidly rising temper.

"I knew her name and I knew you two were working together, so I looked up her obituary online. It wasn't particularly hard to find," Yusei explained shortly, not wanting to stray too far from this particular line of questioning. "But they _are_, right? Perfectly circular trifocals aren't exactly a dime-a-dozen."

"Well, what of it?" Jack shot back, grabbing the picture without consciously deciding to and scrutinizing every detail. "Yes, they're the same pair. I found them here, in fact…right before the tower collapsed completely, that is."

"Tell me why you kept them, then," Yusei encouraged, seeing a potential opening. "I want to understand what was going through your head before you faced her."

"Why?" the Dark King asked dismissively, still gazing intently at the photo of the smiling, laughing Carly in her graduation cap-and-gown. "None of this matters anymore. I've chosen my path, Yusei, and I care little if you understand it."

"Don't give me that line, Jack," Yusei returned sternly, leaning forward without breaking eye-contact. "You went into our mission two days ago a hero, and you came out a tyrant. I _need_ to know why!" Receiving no reaction from his opposite number beyond a tensing of the man's well-toned muscles, Yusei proceeded to guess…which really wasn't all that difficult, given the information he now had. "You loved her _before_ she was turned by the Jibakushin, didn't you? You wanted to save her…just like I wanted to save Kiryu…"

The Signer leader could see, from the way that Jack's ebon eyes widened considerably at this, that his accusation had hit its mark well. His jaw clenched, Jack found himself crushing the picture still held within his palm and shouting, "You…you know _nothing_ of the true situation, Yusei! I was a deluded fool, caught up in ridiculous fantasies of white knights and daring rescues…but in the process of death and rebirth, such flights of imagination withered to the pathetic lies that they were. There _is_ no saving of a loved one from the grip of the abyss – only the possibility of joining them there, until the end of time. Even…even if ultimately bringing about that very end is the price of entry."

"But Kiryu recanted, Jack!" Yusei revealed, slamming his palm against the table emphatically. "I was at his side when he died, and…and all he could speak about was how glad he was to finally play Team Satisfaction's final duel. I failed to save him from the Underworld's power in body – I acknowledge that – but his soul, his _soul_ was redeemed!"

For the first time since Yusei had laid eyes upon his friend's new form, Jack Atlas took this opportunity to laugh – although, far apart from the boisterous but good-natured expressions of confident bravado his chortling had been in their earlier days, now came a low and humorless chuckle, one which was coarse and grating, as if the very _idea_ of laughter was moving his God to punish his throat accordingly.

"As I said before, Yusei, you know _nothing_," he proclaimed, the low level of mirth leading into a tone that was even colder than before. "We messengers of the dead no longer possess souls to _be_ redeemed. Our sins are too great – our very _existence_ is an abomination! One heartfelt deathbed conversation will not excuse Kiryu from damnation…not while his dozens, perhaps even _hundreds_, of victims remain sepulchered in their graves. And the blood upon our hands, both as Dark King and as Dark Queen, dwarfs his in comparison! In this city alone, nearly ten million people now lie dead by my orders, and many more shall surely come as the King of the Underworld maintains its lethal procession across the world, uninhibited by the impotent weaponry of mortal men. If you seriously think that 'redemption' is possible for someone like me – like _us!_ – then you've truly let go of all semblance of reality."

"But…well, err…" Yusei sputtered, suddenly reduced to grasping at straws. He hadn't been anticipating _that_ sort of argument, and the Signer could think of no immediate way of disproving it, as inherently wrong as it sounded from the outset. In order to maintain his basic optimism even in the face of such overwhelming adversity, Yusei had always _needed_ to believe that redemption was possible for even the most wretched of society's dregs, and the Dark Signers should have been no exception. He considered for a moment bringing up Bommer as a counterexample (the South American had, after all, sacrificed his second life for Crow's first, letting the God tied to his own life-force perish so that the children inside might live), but the procession of that duel had been so strange, what with the killer whale physically possessing Bommer and all, that he wasn't entirely certain that it would really help his case.

So instead, he merely asserted, "You claim to love your Queen with all your heart. How _would_ such a love be possible without a soul? Until you can sufficiently explain that, Jack, your argument holds no water."

Jack was about to answer this question quite easily, before he stopped and realized – with a rather uncomfortable level of shock – that he couldn't. Having wiped out every _other_ flimsy attachment that could conceivably be called a "bond" from her mind, the hummingbird had nonetheless been utterly powerless to dissolve Carly's love for him (and, to a lesser extent, for Misty Lola), and when such a process had passed through to Jack in full upon experiencing the Hikari no Yami for the first time, so too had his own love in turn remained perfectly steadfast. He knew, after all, that Aslla piscu carried no affection for its brief second avatar – Hell, the Earthbound God _loathed_ Jack, and quite clearly would've been perfectly fine with him dying brutally at Goodwin's overmuscled hands – and yet Carly had thrown her cosmic weight around entirely on his behalf, and the hummingbird had (begrudgingly) accepted it. So if there was no self-benefit whatsoever for the Jibakushin in leaving their bonds of love alone, _why_ had they done so?

The silence following Yusei's challenge had stretched on for far too long, so Jack attempted to calm down a bit and steer their dialogue in a slightly different direction. "I…I will admit, I do not yet have a proper answer for you; I know so little about the true nature of my immortal life-that-is-death as is," he confessed, finally turning back to Yusei and acceding to his long-running, silent plea for eye-contact.

"All I truly know, and all I truly _care_ to know, is this: I love Carly Nagisa, and would move the Heavens and the Earth and the very Circles of Hell for her sake. And as our minds are melded so closely now that they are almost one, I am absolutely certain that the sentiment is mutual. Irredeemable creatures we may be, but that singular fact will remain the same throughout all of eternity. As this planet descends into its Last Days, as the grounds splinter and the skies darken with the spirits of the slain, we shall continue to fight and struggle for the sake of that love," he concluded, bringing down both fists with what he hoped was a ringing air of finality. Then, unable to help himself, he muttered under his breath, "Which is, incidentally, more than I can say for…_some_ people I could mention."

"Err…what do you mean by that last part?" Yusei inquired, honestly lost at the Dark King's none-too-subtle allusion.

"You are…without a doubt, the most selectively oblivious man I have ever met, Yusei," Jack told him with a sigh containing equal parts exasperation and mild amusement, and for just a second the ominous pronouncements that the winged Dark Signer had just made disappeared; it was as if the two old friends were young kids again, playfully jibing each other about how Yusei had accidentally called Martha "mommy" when he was ten, and consequently _far_ too old for such a childish thing. The moment was over just as soon as it began, but its presence nonetheless hung over both men as Jack went on, "I am speaking, of course, of Izayoi. How you can construct a fully functioning perpetual motion machine out of a box of scraps and yet constantly miss that girl practically throwing herself at you every chance she gets, I can't fathom."

"Aki and I are just friends, Jack," Yusei insisted, scarcely believing that they were beginning to have _this_ conversation after the graveness of their last. "I genuinely want to do everything I can to help her chart her own way into a better future, but it's not like I expect anything out of it."

"Try telling _her_ that, then," Jack proposed, his palm grasped over his face and his wings ruffled in agitation. "Have you _honestly_ not noticed how she looks at you these days? Especially after that week you spent as 'roommates' at Goodwin's mansion? She could scarcely be any less subtle about it without simply stripping naked and holding a sign saying, 'Yusei, fuck me now.'"

"Err…let's just drop this matter, alright?" the teenaged Signer suggested evasively; he had just pictured precisely what Jack had described, and he would rather not…linger on such a subject. "But here's one thing I don't get – if you really don't care about me or the others any longer, why in the _Hell_ are you bringing up something like this?"

"I suppose…I don't wish for you to _waste_ your Last Days on this doomed planet, that's all," Jack stated after a long pause. "The hour at which you and I are destined to meet on the battlefield draws near, and as for Izayoi…well, I feel obligated to inform you that Carly is now after her blood, in retaliation for the death of Misty Lola. And I assure you that my Queen is quite relentless – she will not rest until her appetite for revenge has been sated, and that young psychic who cherishes you so deeply lies cold and dead at her feet. When we face off for the final time, Yusei, I don't want there to be any regrets, so if there is anything you still have yet to do in your final living hours, I suggest that you resolve it before we next meet. For when we do, we meet as enemies, and we shall fight until only one set of Gods is left standing on this mortal plane."

Carly Nagisa, meanwhile, was eavesdropping upon this rather eclectic discussion and finding herself torn between a desire to laugh uproariously and a strong impulse to tear the filthy Signer's head clean from his body. She knew, from the way Jack had positioned himself, that her husband did not wish for her to overhear this exchange of words, but as much as she loved the Dark King, she almost had to roll her blackened eyes at his presumption that her much-farther-developed powers would not incorporate superhuman hearing.

Of course, it wasn't anything particularly to do with Yusei Fudo that was enraging the undead woman beyond belief, but rather a knee-jerk reaction to the casual mention of her newly chosen target…and in such an _audacious_ context to boot! That she would have the gall to pine for romance, for _happiness_, in the wake of Misty-san's murder…

In all honesty, Carly wouldn't have really been able to provide a proper explanation as to _why_ this notion of Aki Izayoi's unrequited affections was bothering her so much, but in any event the monstrous psychic's stern face was currently dominating her thoughts in a manner that uncomfortably obstructed rationality. Thus preoccupied, it did not take long for her more mystical senses to detect a powerful source of energy surging in the immediate area…an energy that was tied wholly and completely to the psychic signature of the girl in question.

Making sure to stay out of eyeshot of the men, Carly traced the pounding signal to its source, ensconced in an abandoned bakery – Yusei's D-Wheel, pulsating with a power that only the highly attuned could possibly detect. It was a strange energy, and not one that the Dark Queen was at all familiar with, but one thing was absolutely certain: this was a teleportation signal, tied directly to Aki Izayoi's current location.

Now heavily intrigued at her good fortune, Carly moved her gloved palms across the crimson metal and began to critique the mystical work done here more thoroughly. This was by no means an amateurish job, but it was still rather sloppy, as if established by someone in a great hurry and with far too much on their plate at once. The activation trigger was also ridiculously convoluted, requiring an acceleration of just under 142 kilometers per hour for the transport to initiate…but Carly could change that, easily, with little more than a flick of the wrist.

Smirking wryly at the sheer poetic justice of using the techniques Misty had taught her in order to pursue the former model's killer, Carly bridged the numinous connection manually and held on tight to the disappearing motorcycle, eager to finally confront the object of her vengeance face-to-face.

[-]

"Hells yeah! Score one for Team Kizuna, baby!" cheered Yoshizo Hayashi, dusting off his hands as the gathered assemblage stepped back from their prize, thrashing wildly against the transparent walls of its capsule but unable to inflict even a dent.

"Perhaps not the kind of…exuberance I would put into such a declaration, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same," Jean Aramis agreed with a thin smile. "Phase one seems to have gone off without a hitch; we've got one of these things safe and secure, and don't appear to have alerted any of the others to the location of our base in the process."

The creature responded to this how it responded to everything – by slamming its pale fists against the invisible barrier and shrieking loudly. Setsuko Izayoi, who was closest to the device, took a few steps back and remarked timidly, "It's really quite…frightening, isn't it? Are you absolutely _sure_ that that machine will hold it permanently?"

"Don't worry, dear," Hideo attempted to reassure her, flipping through the manuals that had come packaged with the capsule. "At its current rate of damage-infliction, that monster's going to have to wait a good ten years or so to make even a single crack. So given how long we intend to keep _this_ one around, it escaping should be the _least_ of our concerns."

"Well-put, Hideo," Jean approved with a nod. "And now, it's time to get moving on phase two: testing whatever weapons we've got on-hand on this fucker until we find the point where it breaks."

"No, that's phase _three_," corrected Andore Porthos, looking smug. "Phase two is giving our undead friend here…drumroll please…" he paused, looking around as if anticipating such a thing, "…a _name_! It just won't _do_ to keep calling him an 'it' indefinitely."

This suggestion was met, predictably, with raised eyebrows and weary groans all-around, with Jinbei Tanigawa outright face-palming and responding through gritted teeth, "Urgh…this thing's a zombie spewed out of Hell-sludge, Andore, not the team pet. But if you simply _have_ to give it a code designation…why don't we just go with Subject-1? Or Specimen-1? That way, we can name any potential replacements accordingly."

"Now don't be so boring! We gotta give him a name with some real…character," Andore told them, swaying gaily upon his heels. Seeing that the glares of bewilderment or outright irritation had not dissipated, he continued to appeal, "C'mon, guys! How many more times in human history is someone gonna get a chance to name an undead ghoul?"

"How many more times will anyone _care_?" Jean asked, shaking his head in exasperation over his ardent lover. "But fine, fine, whatever. Anyone who actually gives a crap can name it whatever they damn well please. Me? I'm getting back to _actual_ work."

"Ooh, ooh, wait, I've got one!" Yoshizo shouted suddenly, jumping up-and-down in his exuberance. "Whadaya guys think about…_Reginald Q. Balderdash_?"

There was a long, drawn-out silence following this…unique offering, before Andore uttered "Now we're talkin'!" and clapped the younger man on the back. "I'm definitely putting my vote on that one!"

"Well, in that case, how about just 'Reggie' for short?" Taro Yamashita interjected amicably. "That way everybody wins – it's short, to the point, and if we need to replace this one we can just call the next one Reggie-2 or something."

"Like I said, _fine_," Jean breathed, now pinched his forehead in annoyance. "'Reggie' it is. And now that we're done conducting probably the _stupidest _conversation I've ever heard in my life, can we _quit_ wasting time already?"

"C'mon hon, chill," Andore attempted to console him, laughing slightly as he took out a pen and scrawled 'Reggie's Crib' across the glass separating him from a very enraged zombie. "We're still running a fair bit ahead of schedule, am I right? And it's not like the rest of these guys have any freaking clue where we are."

…Then the building shook.

The first indication that something was amiss came with a flickering of the lights and other electrical equipment, followed swiftly by an earthshaking rumble that sent Andore, Jean, Hideo, Setsuko, Taro, Yoshizo, and Jinbei sprawling ungracefully to the floor; fortunately, Jean had possessed the foresight to bolt down Reggie's capsule, thus sparing it the potentially catastrophic consequences of this fate. Less heartening was the fact that the power died out completely immediately following this, and in the inordinate quiet – Reggie had even ceased to shriek for the moment – the faint but unmistakable sound of fists pounding against metal and stone sounded all around them.

"You just _had_ to say it, didn't you?" Jean muttered through gritted teeth, running over to another terminal and attempting to attain a survey of the initial damage.

[-]

The graves were extraordinarily plain, by Judai's estimation, and he had been to far too many funerals over the past several decades – most of them in secret – that he hardly had an uninformed perspective on the matter.

Still, Judai Yuki knew that that was precisely how Takuma and Mizuchi Saiou would've wanted it. Marked by naught but a pair of simple stones, the names of the deceased etched with largely invisible magicks rather than physical scratches, there was a sort of humble dignity to them, particularly as they contrasted on either side from the ornate and well-kept headstone placed between them: the final burial place of Edo Phoenix.

…Well, perhaps "burial place" wasn't _quite_ the correct term; given that Edo and four hundred-thousand of his fans had gone up in flames within a single instant, there of course hadn't been even a scrap of a body left to inter. But Edo's estate executors and marketing machine hadn't let a little something like that stop them from constructing the most expensive gravesite in modern history in order to hold the ashes that – with any luck – belonged to their fallen hero, acquiescing only to the singular condition contained in his brief will…that the burial take place here, in the graveyard of Edo's hometown.

Of course, none but Judai were nowadays aware of just why Edo had posthumously selected _this_ particular location to spend eternity upon this mortal Earth. There had been much speculation amongst the media of the time about the star pro-duelist wanting to return to his roots, to the very slim snatch of childhood that he had experienced in this small California town before losing his father, but while there was doubtlessly _some_ truth to that – said father, after all, had been laid to rest in this expansive field as well, so very many years ago – the far more pressing reason for the choice was a fair deal more private.

Over thirty years prior, this had been the very spot where a young man with deep, violet eyes and a horrific destiny had come to a melancholy boy in the midst of a torrential thunderstorm and offered him an umbrella, and where a love that had survived multiple instances of Armageddon – tragic though its ultimate end had been – had begun to blossom.

"Heh, look at me, waxing nostalgic…" murmured Judai, choosing to sprawl out and rest for a few minutes in front of the three friend's gravestones, hopefully now reunited in spirit if not fully in body.

_I suppose it's natural, my beloved; these are the first days in decades, after all, that you've interacted with another human being for more than simple business. And the moment of blessed reunion with your own, cherished friends draws so very near…_

"Yeah, just as soon as I find some safe cover," Judai continued to muse, kicking his legs idly. "The whole of Japan's a power keg right now, and America's not much better; sticking 'em in my pocket dimension might not have been…ideal, but at least Manjoume and the gang are safe there. Well, for the moment at least."

_For the moment. Yes._

"…You're agitated, Yubel," said Judai; it wasn't a question. "What's bugging ya?"

_Hmm…you know me too well, my Judai._

"Well yeah…plus there's the whole, y'know, being inside my head thing," Judai interjected with a small grin.

…_Indeed. But if you must know, I've been feeling…uneasy about that boy we left back in Japan. The one who wields the might and power of the legendary Crimson Dragon._

"What, you don't trust him?" Judai wondered aloud, his lip clenched.

_Not at all. I'll admit, I was a little…jealous that I had to take the backseat to your parlance with the young Signer…I've gotten quite used to having you all to myself these past years, you see. But I understand well the graveness of the current crisis, and the vital importance that Yusei Fudo shall play in its final resolution. Ultimately, my Judai, _you_ trust that young man to share the burden of your duties, and therefore so do I._

"Then what's the issue?" Judai asked.

_Well, are you absolutely _sure _that leaving Neo Domino City at that point was the wisest course of action, my beloved? He still lacks much of the knowledge that shall be required for him to put an end to the reign of the Jibakushin once and for all, and requires your experienced guidance._

"I'll be coming back just as soon as I've got my own team assembled and up-to-speed," Judai argued. "The guy should be able to handle himself until then."

…_And yet the gateway you opened using his motorcycle as a vessel remains unused. That fact…disturbs me greatly. Are you even certain that he knows how to operate such a channel?_

"I…didn't really consider that," Judai admitted sheepishly, now sharing his lover's apprehension. "I had to throw that portal signal together in a couple of seconds, so I used the first trigger that would pop into any guy's head when it comes to teleporting a speeding vehicle."

_And if that young man _hasn't_ seen "Back to the Future"? So far as our research indicated, he grew up in a dank and decrepit slum. His knowledge of American popular culture is probably…limited in comparison to the general population's._

"Y'know, despite everything that I've seen over the years, somehow my base idiocy keeps shining through at the worst moments," Judai reflected, chuckling inwardly. "Guess I'll have to go back and give him the rundown on awesome eighties movies, now that I've laid the Saious to rest."

_That would probably be best. Or, wait…did you feel that just now?_

"Yep…the transport just initiated," Judai confirmed, his eyes blazing gold for a moment as his senses reached out to the heart of Japan. "Guess Yusei must've figured it out on his own…through trial-and-error, probably. Looks like there's no point in going back now." Feeling a bit more jovial, he allowed his irises to snap back to murky brown and added, "And since we can't actually let the gang out until night sets and my powers have recharged, I guess we've got the next couple hours open now. Fancy a quick nap, Yubel?"

"Nearly twenty years and you haven't changed a bit, aniki," came a warm voice from behind, and Judai was snapped immediately out of his brief reverie as he fell over himself trying to turn over and regard the speaker. After all, only two men on Earth had ever used that particular title to refer to the former champion of Osiris Red…and one was long since departed from this mortal plane. Which left only…

"Sho…" Judai uttered in a strained voice, small tears already forming in the corners of his eyes as he rushed to embrace his oldest and dearest friend.

"Judai…by God, it's really _you_…" Sho Marufuji returned, reciprocating the hug in full as all the tension of decades of separation melted away from the pair in an instant. It was a long embrace, held without regard for such ephemeral things as time, and by the time the best friends slowly released each other they were each crying openly, eagerly and vigorously drinking in the other man's changed features.

It was Judai who managed to regain his voice first, thanks in no small part to Yubel providing him with a good couple of mental "nudges." Breathing deeply and wiping the warm tears from his cheeks, he slowly choked out, "What…what are you doing here? I mean, I've been looking for you for weeks, traveled up-and-down all the major nations of the world without an ounce of luck…but I never thought, _here_ of all places…"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, aniki," Sho told him with a high-pitched chuckle, for Judai had said all of this very quickly. "Anyway, not being able to be found was sorta the _point_ of going into hiding, y'know? Ever since those bastards started offing all of our old friends…and…and my brother…"

"So you're aware all of that was more than just a string of accidents, I take it?" Judai verified.

"I may not ever have learned exactly _who_ was behind it all, but I know assassinations when I see them," Sho related bitterly. "They almost got me too, back when I was announcing my retirement from the world of pro-dueling to the press…but one of the policemen stationed in that room took the bullet for me. The authorities never fingered my erstwhile killer's motive, or managed to connect him to the deaths of my brother and four hundred-thousand others…but I've seen too much, going to school with _you_ and all, to believe that such a thing could be a coincidence."

"You're right on the money with that one, dude," Judai assured him, shaking his head in soft mourning. "I have very good reason to suspect that the deaths of Ryo, Hayato, Kenzan, Misawa, and the others were all orchestrated by one group…a secret society that calls itself 'Yliaster.' Manjoume, Asuka, Fubuki, and Rei all managed to survive by staking it out at Duel Academia – for whatever reason, Yliaster won't even _touch_ the island – but most of the others haven't been so fortunate. After all these years not hearing from or even _of_ you, I…I thought the worst."

"I made enough from the pros to retire young and comfortably, if I just stayed out of the public eye…that's why I thought a fairly small town like this one would be best," explained Sho. "Plus, my brother's will stipulated that his remains would need to be buried as close as possible to those of his last dueling opponent, so when they made that big show of burying Edo here, I made sure to carry out Nii-sama's wishes and place his grave a couple plots down. And after that, I just…couldn't bear to leave him, y'know?"

"Yeah, I do," Judai stated solemnly, briefly embracing his old friend once more. "I know the location of every single fallen friend and ally from our schooldays, and I make sure to pay tribute to at least one of them per week…almost surprising that the two of us never ran into each other before today, considering I'm here for a couple hours about every two months or so."

"So is that why you're here now…visiting Edo?" Sho inquired, extracting a single flower from the bouquet evidently meant for his brother's headstone and placing it across Edo Phoenix's. "Gotta say, the two of us may never have been particularly close, but I feel kinda guilty I never really paid my respects to the guy after all these years."

"Well, sorta," Judai clarified. "The main reason I came here _today_ was actually because…well, like I was starting to mention before, I've been trying to gather up what remains of the old gang for the past few weeks. Anyway, I eventually managed to track down Takuma and Mizuchi…but I was a fair bit too late to do any good by it, I'm afraid. So now I'm here, burying yet two more dear and cherished friends…and yet, I guess the hand of fate decided to throw a bit of a silver lining into the whole affair."

Sho gave another small smile at this, before following-up his query with a rather frantic, "But why have you been going around doing this _now_, after all these years of silence? And have you succeeded at all? Who've you seen? I…I gotta know, aniki. I miss them all so much…"

"I…could be having better luck, that's for sure," Judai declared with a low sigh. "Most everyone's turning up dead or missing, although I think I've found some promising clues on the whereabouts of Johan, Jim, and Austin. But as I said, the only guys I _know_ I've got with me are Manjoume, Asuka, Fubuki, and Rei. An, err…monster attacked the island yesterday and slaughtered nearly all of the Duel Spirits there, though most of the students and staff got out alright."

"…And our friends?" Sho pressed.

"They're…safe, for the time being at least," Judai informed him. "I used my powers to fold those four into a timeless pocket dimension, where they've been sitting around ever since…but I intend to release them just as soon as night falls and I can recharge myself from the ambient darkness."

"I'm really gonna have to get used to you saying things like that, aniki," Sho commented dryly, now motioning for Judai to follow him to his car. "But it sounds like you're gonna need a roof over your head until sundown, so I'll volunteer my own place. It's gonna be a little cramped with six people, but…"

"Nah, it's fine. I'm grateful for the hospitality," Judai replied, casting one last, lingering gaze at the trio of tranquil graves, while Sho wondered off slightly to lay his remaining flowers upon the headstone of Ryo Marufuji. "Err, I should probably ask, though…how good is your security?"

"Well, I suppose it's kept those Yliaster guys out for nineteen years," Sho answered with a chuckle.

"Yeah…but, just to be on the safe side, I think I'll be putting up a few wards of my own as soon as the sun starts to set," said Judai, now proceeding to Sho's discrete black automobile. "I've got a feeling there's gonna be a lot of stuff shared tonight that is best kept…behind closed doors."

[-]

These children couldn't possibly understand the complexity of the situation, of course; all they had seen was their surrogate big brother cave into the demands of a "bad guy" for probably the first time in his life, and since they obviously couldn't blame Crow for the confusion and frustration generated by this decision, all of their collective disappointment and disgust at the sordid turn of events had come to rest solely on the other major "heroic" figure involved, Mikage Sagiri herself.

…Which was a rather troublesome development, considering that Mikage was going to need their cooperation if she was to have any chance of overcoming Professor Frank Adler before it became too late.

Proceeding down the empty streets of the Satellite, broken-down storefronts and ramshackle domiciles populated by none but the occasional lone wraith lining the sides, the motley group of seven walked as slowly as Mikage could manage without arousing Frank's suspicions. At least she had one asset at her disposal the psychopathic psychologist was entirely unaware of…the service pistol Ushio had tossed to Crow and which she in turn had surreptitiously pocketed. Nervously she ran her fingers across the cold metal of the weapon hidden within her jacket, hoping desperately that she wouldn't have to resort to using it – trained she might be in such matters, being an employee of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, but she had never attempted to shoot an actual human being before, and she didn't exactly fancy learning how it felt on a night like this.

"How much longer will it take for us to get there?" Professor Frank demanded suddenly, not bothering to look Mikage in the eye. "We had a deal, after all, Miss Sagiri…and I'm certain you would not wish to, how should we say…_displease_ me by reneging."

"I assure you, Professor, this is the straightest possible path to the Signers' base," Mikage lied carefully. "We are only about ten minutes away at this point."

"Ah, very good," Frank replied, his eyes widening in wicked delight. "Then the little bitch is less than an hour away from justice being served. Oh, to see her tiny, mutilated cadaver, lying in a pool of her own blood as I wring the last breath of life from her tender little throat…oh yes, I have dreamed of it for _so_ long…"

"And what makes you think that she will lose to the likes of _you?_" Mikage couldn't help but ask, her blood sent straight to boil by the man's unrestrained sadism. "Ruka is a dueling prodigy without a single loss on her tournament record. And Director Goodwin specifically chose _you_ to face her in the Fortune Cup because he fully expected you would bring out her hidden Signer powers…and lose summarily to them. No more, no less."

"That lower-echelon fool _thought_ he chose me for that purpose…just as he thought _many_ other things that were not entirely accurate," Frank countered, his mad eyes glinting in the moonlight. "But this is not the time to discuss the ignorance of Rex Goodwin. Now, as for your original question…at what point did I intimate in any way that I intended to engage the bitch in a game of _Duel Monsters_? Throttling someone doesn't require a Duel Disk or adherence to the rules of sportsmanship, you know."

"You mean…?" Mikage gasped, her grip on the concealed gun tightening involuntarily.

"I've told you, I have no greater or lesser agenda than to reduce the girl you call Ruka into a bloodstained pile of shredded flesh by the end of this night," Professor Frank whispered gleefully. "Nothing else in this entire world matters to me."

"Well then, I suppose you'd better give some thought to adjusting your priorities," Mikage spat with as much contempt as she could muster, before abruptly seizing Frank Adler into a simple but powerful hold and slamming the barrel of Ushio's pistol into his back. "In the name of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, I hereby place you, Professor Frank Adler, under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder. Make a single false move, and I _will_ pump you full of lead faster than you can say 'bitch' again. Got that?"

This sudden display was enough to change at least one of the children's initial opinions of her, as Daichi filled the next few moments of stillness by shouting, "Fuck yeah! Kick his ass, lady!"

Professor Frank, on the other hand, waited until this exclamation before breaking down completely into a fit of insane laughter, chortling and guffawing with as much abandon as was possible without breaking Mikage's grip. "Look who decided to try her hand at being competent!" he managed to sputter, turning his head back to stare her in the eyes with just a bit more flexibility than Mikage had thought was humanly possible. "But if you didn't happen to be paying attention back there, I should probably remind you that I do not in any way fear your pathetic weapon. Not only are its potential adverse effects doubtful at _best_ on my current body, but I've got you pegged, little miss."

"W…What do you mean by that?" Mikage stammered, hating herself for the shakiness in both her voice and her hands.

"Don't forget, while I may have been broken beyond repair by that little bitch, I am still one of the world's foremost experts in the field of psychology, and within your eyes I can see precisely what kind of scared little girl you are, much as you are trying to hide it from me," Frank explained, his lip curling in amusement. "I'd place you as the scion of a fairly wealthy family – not the kind with five mansions and a private fleet of jet planes, but certainly the type that would have indoctrinated you from the youngest age into the sterilized world of high society, regardless of where your heart was truly aiming to take you.

"I see it writ plain as day across your pathetic little face…the desire for action, for a life out in the field, shooting men like me in our tracks every single day. But these are _fantasies_, girl, nothing more," he continued to jeer. "Much as you wish you could, you simply don't have the _mettle_ to fire that gun, even if your life were to depend on it…which, of course, it currently does. Now why don't you place that weapon on the ground and release me, before I'm forced to snap your neck with my bare hands? Or, I suppose, I could simply do so to a couple of these kids, just as a warning…I still need _you_ to lead me to the bitch, after all. Go on, _drop it_. Drop…"

The piercing sound of the gunshot rang across the streets of the Satellite with little impedance, the only other sound in the air being Professor Frank's low gasp as he collapsed forward, blood pooling around his stomach as his fingers reflexively twitched. "You…_you_…" the psychologist wheezed, and then he was still.

Shivering violently and turning away from this ghastly sight, Mikage swallowed hard and questioned the children, "Are you all alright?"

"We're f…fine, ma'am," Hikari stuttered, her eyes watering and her lips trembling. "Did…did you just…?"

Mikage Sagiri was, however, saved from answering this question with a response she very much did not want to give by a burst of violet light that emanated from the feather lodged in Frank Adler's chest, coating him in a pulsating aura that plunged deep into the bullet wound and began to slowly repair it. "Shit, shit, _shit_…" Mikage murmured under her breath, now rather panicked by this indisputable demonstration that Frank's claims of supernatural invulnerability hadn't been all talk. "Kids, follow me, now! We don't have time to stand around!"

Despite how frightened the children must have undoubtedly been at this point, they had all grown up orphans in a horrific slum, and so thankfully not one of them hesitated for even a moment to run after Mikage, who had little idea where they should be going beyond a general inclination toward finding cover as soon as possible. Unfortunately, she had been preoccupied mostly with leading Professor Frank as far away from the Signers as possible while on their previous trek, rather than on moving them anywhere near a place that might function as suitable shelter…but she _would_ find them safety in the mere minutes they likely had before Frank would resume consciousness. She _needed_ to.

"What's that place?" Taiga piped up, pointing off in the near distance to what appeared at first glance to be a small, impossibly positioned mountain range. Closer inspection indicated, however, that the enormous hills were in fact composed of copious scrap metal and other junk, piled precariously on top of each other with little regard for structural integrity. On the other hand, in the tired and desperate state that the group was now in, there was really only one thing that the building placed at dead-center of the massive heaps could be called…

"It's salvation, kids," Mikage told them, and with Ushio's weapon still primed the blue-haired woman proceeded cautiously onto the expansive property, incredibly nervous but also determined to make sure that no crazed murderer, immortal or not, would lay a hand on these children again.

[-]

_(Samuel Bolger: 4000 LP – Crow Hogan: 4000 LP)_

"Alright, let's do this!" shouted Crow Hogan, drawing his first card with a flourish. He needed to end this quick, if he was gonna have any hope of catching up to Mikage and the kids…and fortunately for that, Black Feathers were no slouches at One-Turn Kills.

"First, I'm activating the Spell Card _Black Whirlwind_!" he pronounced, a flurry of darkly tinted air swarming about him as he did. "While this card's in play, each and every time I Normal Summon a 'Black Feather' monster to the field, I get to add a new one from my Deck to my hand in replacement, just so long as the new monster has less ATK points than the first. And now, to test that all out…say hello to _Black Feather – Sirocco the Dawn_!"

"I dueled alongside that deck for over five years, Crow Hogan; I do not require in-depth explanations of its most basic strategies," Samuel Bolger responded as the humanoid hawk in question materialized at the center of the circle blazing around them.

"Hey, don't go thinkin' that this whole deck's just a bunch of old tricks," retorted Crow, the lingering cyclone that represented _Black Whirlwind_'s effect hitting a crescendo as he carefully selected the proper card. "All the _cards_ might have been Pearson's, but I've since managed to figure out quite a few new ways to use 'em that should throw you for a good loop. Case in point…my diminutive friend here, _Black Feather – Breeze the Zephyr_!"

Emerging from the darkened winds was a tiny, almost pixie-like orange bird, its far-too-large wings sweeping around it in what appeared to be a vain attempt at looking cool and dramatic. "Now, _Breeze_ here may not look like much, but he's got a fun little ability tacked onto his normal Tuner duties: adding him to the hand by an effect means getting to Special Summon him for free."

"A Level 3 Tuner Monster and a Level 5 non-Tuner Monster…your stage appears amply set for a Synchro Summon," Bolger dispassionately observed.

"Hey, hey, I'm getting to that…" Crow countered, "But first, I don't trust those face-down cards of yours one bit, so I'd best be Special Summoning _Black Feather – Gale the Hurricane_ and then activating _Delta Crow – Anti-Reverse_! When I've got exactly three Black Feathers in play, this baby can be played straight from my hand…and allows me to eradicate every single Spell or Trap you've got Set on your field. Or, to put it another way…_boom_ goes the dynamite!"

And "boom" the effect in question did, as blasts of light shot out from _Sirocco_, _Breeze_, and _Gale_ and collided with both of Bolger's face-down cards, incinerating them instantly. The explosion, amplified by the powers of the feather being channeled throughout this ring of flames, forced the former businessman to lose a little bit of his perfect composure, and he was still squinting from underneath his forearm as Crow chased this destructive activation with another, crying out, "And now for an encore, we've got _Blackfeather Shoot_! All I gotta do for this one is send one 'Black Feather' monster from my hand to the Graveyard, and your Defense Position monster goes the same way as your other face-downs!"

This time, Bolger was better prepared, and consequently he managed not to flinch too noticeably as a new bird-creature was enshrouded in flame and sent hurtling at his _White Warrior – Fog the Treasured Shield_. Now apparently defenseless, there was definitely some justification in the smug smirk that Crow donned as soon as his Spell resolved successfully, especially as he went on to add, "And as an added bonus, the monster I just pitched to the Graveyard was none other than _Black Feather – Zephyrus the Elite_! And when this guy's sittin' tight down there, all I have to do is return one card I control to my hand and voluntarily take 400 points of damage, and he gets to join the party with all the rest of his friends. So say goodbye – if for only a few seconds – to _Black Whirlwind_, and say hello to the ruler of the West Wind!"

"Hmm…four 'Black Feathers' under your command, armed with a combined ATK of 6000. For a first-turn play, I am being fully honest in proclaiming that Pearson could not have done any better," Bolger stated. "But before you get any ideas, I'm activating the effect of one of the Trap Cards you just destroyed – _White Screen_! By removing from play both this card and a 'White Warrior' monster in my Graveyard, all of _your_ monsters will be rendered unable to declare attacks or use their effects until the End Phase. And in addition, as soon as we reach that point all monsters you control, other than Synchro Monsters, shall be removed from play as well!"

"Damn, you _really_ wanna see me bring out my big guns, don't ya? Well, I guess I might as well oblige!" Crow called out, gesturing a hand to each of his 3-Star Tuners. "Alright, first off, I'm gonna be Tuning my Level 3 _Gale the Hurricane_ with my Level 4 _Zephyrus the Elite_!" At this bequest the wide-eyed sparrow transformed into emerald rings and surrounded its companion, as their master began to chant, "Darkened gales, become the wings which will soar to Heaven! Synchro Summon! _Black Feather – Armored Wing!_"

"Your signature ace card, as I recall," Bolger reacted coolly as the ebony-armored tengu swept onto the field with a flourish. "Or at least, formerly so. You've still got eight Stars left at your disposal, so why don't you show off the last piece of my old friend's legacy? The monster that has eluded me for so very, _very_ long…bring forth the _Blackfeather Dragon_! Show it to me, _now!_"

Unnerved by this uncharacteristic outburst, Crow grimaced as he shot back, "Urgh…fine then! You wanna see Pearson's last, best creature…then I'll give it to ya! I'm Tuning my Level 3 _Breeze the Zephyr_ and my Level 5 _Sirocco the Dawn_! And now…darkened gales, becomes the wings that soar from resolved hope! Synchro Summon! Soar, _Blackfeather Dragon!_"

It was hard for this simple projection of his newly acquired Signer Dragon to come anywhere near matching its flesh-and-blood entrance from last night, but it certainly made a good effort as it descended upon the dueling field for the first time in years. Roaring with a sense of bestial dignity that befitted its new status, the dragon flexed its massive wings and flashed its crimson eyes menacingly, before the winds surrounding its descent died down somewhat and the Synchro Monster came down to rest beside its companion. "And now, since I can't attack with either of my monsters yet, I'll reactivate _Black Whirlwind_ and end my turn!" Crow announced, smiling in satisfaction. Bolger might've averted his near-perfect One Turn Kill, but a second-or-third-round victory was still within reach…and the sooner the former CEO went down, the sooner Crow could move toward rescuing his kids from that _other_ psycho.

"My move, then," said Bolger, drawing and examining his options as both _Armored Wing_ and _Blackfeather Dragon_ stared down his barren field. "Well, to start off with, I think that I shall Normal Summon _White Warrior – Hail the Iron Hammer_. And now, with the Equip Spell Card _White Warhammer_, I get to increase _Hail_'s ATK by 1000 when it battles a DARK monster…or 2000, if that monster happens to be a Synchro Monster as well. And since your _Blackfeather Dragon_ fits the bill in both regards, I'm afraid that I'll be burying its magnificence just as soon as I demanded you unearth it. Such a shame…but it cannot be helped. Perhaps my Master shall permit me to salvage that beautiful creature from your charred corpse, Crow Hogan…but before I get ahead of myself, I must _produce_ that corpse! _Hail the Iron Hammer_, attack! Stormwind Strike!"

Swallowing hard, Crow averted his eyes as his newly Summoned Signer Dragon burst into shards of light at the thunderous impact, instantly cutting his Life Points down by another thousand. "Sorry, man, but I'll get you back soon…somehow," he whispered to the fallen beast.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Crow Hogan," Bolger instructed him, looking strangely somber. "This world has a way of derailing even the best-intentioned plans…as I shall prove to you now. For you see, when _Hail the Iron Hammer_ destroys a monster by battle, I am allowed to destroy an additional monster with its effect. So I suggest you bid farewell to your _Armored Wing_ as well!"

"I gotta know, Bolger…" spoke Crow as he reluctantly slid his other Synchro Monster into the Graveyard, the older man's words reawakening the overwhelming sense of confusion he had felt prior to getting caught up in the adrenaline rush of dueling. "What…what happened between you and Pearson? What could _possibly_ have driven you to do such a horrible thing to your best friend?"

"Don't you _dare_ say that to me!" spat Bolger, his eyes narrowing furiously behind his cracked glasses. "Robert Pearson took _everything_ away from me…from us! The two of us could have had it all – fame, fortune, our names in the history books and our lives removed from this Hellhole of an island forevermore…but _no_, he had to ruin it all by refusing KaibaCorp's grant! And for the sake of _what?_ Nothing but his own, overbloated ego! He left me no choice…I _had_ to take advantage of the opportunity when I saw it, whether he liked it or not! But if he had only been less stubborn, less set in his foolhardy obstinacy, we could have…shared in this life…_together_…"

His voice now cracking with sadness and what might perhaps have been a shade of unacknowledged regret, Bolger finished his tirade with, "Now I have everything I've ever dreamed of, after fifteen years spent rotting in this Godforsaken slum…but thanks to the memory of that pigheaded fool, I can't enjoy _any_ of it. Every day I hear his laughing voice, haunting me, _taunting_ me…but once I eliminate you, the Dark King shall bring a deathly silence to my world, and I shall finally be free of Robert Pearson once and for all. And to that end, I place one card face-down, and return control of this game over to you."

"Wait a minute…you're telling me you jumped straight from 'Pearson made a decision I disagreed with' to cold-blooded _murder?_" Crow cried out incredulously, his mouth agape. "I've loved you like family for years, Bolger…but I guess now I see your true colors. In the name of my kids – and of the man who protected them from harm in the years before me – I'm ending this, now! My move!"

[-]

"…Do you even _want_ to do any of this, Jack?" Yusei asked after a very long pause, gazing pleadingly at his brother-in-all-but-name.

"I'm not sure why you seem to think that such a thing matters in the least, Yusei," the Dark King rejoined, his tone equal parts imperiously dismissive and deeply bitter.

"Dammit, of _course_ it matters!" Yusei exclaimed, his insides screaming in frustration as Jack again retreated back from their all-too-brief moments of progress. "I mean, one minute you're talking up how you're going to bring an end to the world and kill the human race and all that shit, and then the next we're reminiscing or you're giving me _dating_ advice! And then you just go right back into all that 'divine destiny' crap all over again! I…God, I just can't a read on you anymore. And we're supposed to be friends, Jack – best friends. There's nothing stopping us from going back to the way things were…"

"You think I haven't _considered_ it?" Jack abruptly roared, slamming a fist into the table between them with such force that it splintered in two. "You honestly come here and have the _nerve_ to assume that if there was a way out of this horrific destiny, I wouldn't have gone to _any_ lengths to find it?"

"Then _why_, Jack?" Yusei pleaded. "You don't even seem to be _enjoying_ any of what you're doing, other than being with that Carly girl. So why don't you just…walk away? She could come too, you know…all could be forgiven…"

Instead of answering, the Dark King merely shook his head in exasperation and began undoing the buttons on his coat, until his muscular chest – resplendent with the dull violet mark of Wiraqocha Rasca – came into full view. "Have you been listening to _any_ of what I've been telling you, Yusei? There _is_ no going back for me, or for my Dark Queen…this sign is proof. I sit before you now solely because the condor wishes for me to, and should its opinion of my worth to the Underworld's cause change it could snuff out my second life in an instant, as easily as blowing out the flame on a candle. Or worse, it could wrench direct control of my very own bones and sinew away from me and wear my body like an ill-fitting suit…at the moment, I can fight to hold back its possessions, but eventually I'm not sure even _that_ will be possible as its power in this mortal world grows ever-stronger."

…So _that_ was what had happened during the latter part of Bommer's duel with Crow. Yusei tried to imagine the unearthly glow and sickeningly popping veins that had been set across the South American's visage upon Jack's and very nearly vomited in response, his mind rejecting the intensely disturbing image outright as the other man refastened his jacket. "So…is that it, then?" he questioned wearily. "You're just…giving up?"

"It's not 'giving up,' Yusei," Jack insisted, for a moment sounding just as tired as his Signer counterpart. "But fate dealt me a false hand; a so-called choice with only one viable answer. I bring about the tides of Armageddon, not because I wish to, but because nothing else matters to me anymore. Nothing…except my Queen. So if the decision is between experiencing oblivion without Carly by my side or being together for as long as it takes to set this world up in flames around us, you should already know what my choice is."

Yusei Fudo, for his part, was beginning to be moved nearly to tears by these despondent words, his inner mind producing a white-hot sensation of equal parts disbelief, exasperation, and overwhelming grief that his throat was finding intensely difficult to translate into speech. But just because he wasn't able to _articulate_ a coherent counter-argument didn't mean that there _wasn't_ one…did it?

"I want to speak with her," Yusei found himself saying, the dragon's head on his forearm sparking slightly as the thought suddenly came to him. "To…to Carly-san."

"And why in the world would you want to do _that?_" Jack queried, his eyebrows rising suspiciously. "You're a Signer, Yusei…the only reason my Dark Queen hasn't already torn your head from your spine is that I requested her not to. She has nothing to say to you beyond words of general hatred, and perhaps some vengeful invective she would wish for you to pass along to Izayoi."

"Still, I think I would find a conversation with her…enlightening," Yusei pressed on carefully. "You can sit-in and observe us, if you wish – I just want to ask her a few things no one else on Earth can answer."

Pressing the tips of his fingers together and briefly closing his eyes, the Dark King ruminated for a few moments on this appeal before grunting low in affirmation. "Fine then, Yusei…but as they say, it's your funeral," he told his former friend, removing himself from his chair and sweeping it to the side with a broad swipe of his left wing. "Carly!" he called out, looking around at the sweeping field of rubble and debris that had once been the Arcadia Building. "My Queen, the leader of the Signers desires to speak with you!"

But there was no reply, and after a few pregnant beats of silence, Jack discovered to his great shock that his wife was no longer within range of his unpracticed Dark Signer senses. Except, no, that wasn't right…he could certainly detect _some_ traces of Carly Nagisa's trail, which he followed with the intentness of a bloodhound, ignoring whatever Yusei was yelling to him as he swept across the cracked streets and into several dilapidated buildings, until finally the remnants of some strong magicks became overwhelming in a derelict bakery, the point where Carly's trail stopped dead.

"Jack, what the Hell is going on?" cried Yusei, panting as he sprinted up to the Dark King's side. "Where did she go?"

"I'm not certain, but I believe she followed some sort of…pathway set up in this building," Jack answered absently, his face screwed up in concentration. "The signal is still strong, but inactive…and the source, it's…"

The blond Dark Signer was cut off, however, by a pulse of energy that burst violently through the front of his jacket, causing Jack to collapse to the floor and clutch his chest as the sign of the condor Jibakushin blazed bright. "Urgh…whatever produced this thing…it's far, _far_ beyond my understanding…" he muttered through gritted teeth. "My God is…_agitated_ by it…"

It was at about this point that Yusei belatedly realized exactly where he was, and more importantly, what that _meant_ – this was the place where he had stashed his D-Wheel before heading into Arcadia's ruins to ponder his current situation, and there was certainly no sign of scarlet chromium anywhere around the overturned tables and collapsed bread-stands. Which meant that, somehow, the avatar of the hummingbird had managed to trip the "spell" that he had been unable to crack, a spell which would have led her directly to…

"_No!_" Yusei shouted at the top of his lungs, stumbling about in horror at the conclusion he had just drawn.

The exclamation was so uncharacteristically shrill that Jack Atlas appeared to simply forget the pain that had been plaguing his heart of darkness, wrenching himself back to his feet and demanding, "What in the _Hell_, Yusei? Do you know what caused this? Do you know where Carly is? Tell me, _now!_"

"She…she must have used my D-Wheel! It was…" Yusei stopped himself here, just enough presence of mind poking through his rising panic to realize that telling Jack about Judai was unlikely to work out at all well. Trying to be as vague as possible, he began again, "It was…rigged, somehow, to teleport the rider back to the Satellite. I don't really know the details, but…it was tied to Aki's current location. That's where she's gone…"

"…Please tell me that you are joking, Yusei," said Jack, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You heard what I told you before – my Queen is wholly and obsessively fixated upon the prospect of achieving vengeance upon that girl on behalf of Misty Lola. If Carly confronts her now, she… won't be in her right mind. And if she engages in battle with a psychic as powerful as Izayoi in that sort of state…neither one of them will be safe."

"Then, we…we have to stop them!" Yusei cried out fretfully, already moving toward the door.

"_Excuse_ me, Yusei?" Jack asked, his brow furrowing. "What is this 'we' business?"

"Well, you just said it yourself!" Yusei protested heatedly. "They're _both _in danger, so each of us has got a vested interest in stopping this confrontation before it starts…"

"You seem to have forgotten, _Signer_, that while I have postponed our inevitable showdown until destiny has decreed that the time is right for it, we remain – by our very blood – mortal enemies," Jack declared coldly. "I moved for this brief truce for one reason and one reason alone: to work out some lingering…questions that have been beleaguering my mind ever since my rebirth. For better or for worse, you have allowed me to put those nagging thoughts to permanent rest, and for that I thank you…but that still changes _nothing_ about the grand scheme of things, Yusei. You and I shall still fight to the death in less than two day's time, and in the interim, expect no aid or assistance whatsoever on my behalf. If you wish to rescue Izayoi from my wife's wrath on your own, then so be it, but do not expect _her_ wellbeing to concern me in the least."

And with those final words, Jack Atlas turned away from his former best friend and swept his wings around himself, his sign glowing madly as a miniature geoglyph of Wiraqocha Rasca appeared below his feet. "Jack, wait! _Jack!_" Yusei called after him, rushing to try and grasp hold of the other man before he could disappear completely, but by the time his hand reached out to touch the Dark King's shoulder, Jack was once again standing at the heart of the Satellite.

Yusei's only consolation, as he stood at the threshold of that long-abandoned bakery and fought back tears of anxiety and regret, was two last, quiet words that had seemed to come from the vanishing blond, so soft and so out-of-sync with his prior speaking tone that Yusei was almost certain he had imagined them. But still they hung over the air, the final message that what the Signer leader desperately hoped was Jack's innermost, truest self had chosen to impart…

"I'm sorry."

[-]

"Medically speaking, she's in perfect health," stated the calm and professional voice of Doctor Lewis Schmitt, although as Ruka was currently floating through some indiscriminate, inky blackness, she could not actually regard the source. "But of course, what Aki-san has been saying is the problem is rather outside my area of expertise…really, all I can do is prescribe the standard: that we allow her to rest as long as she needs, and build-up her fluid intake as soon as she wakes up."

"Thank you, Schmitt-sama," Aki Izayoi replied, a glowing crimson light appearing before the young Signer and her Duel Spirits in time with her soft tones. "But I won't really know whether this actually worked or not until Ruka-chan wakes up. It's…been nearly an hour since I first attempted to bridge a connection to her disembodied soul, and still no change…"

"Pass through that beacon, Ruka-chan! Quickly!" Ancient Fairy Dragon beseeched her avatar, both she and Regulus already beginning to fade away as they shifted back into the Duel Monsters Spirit World. "Enter the light and you shall finally be pulled back into your physical body."

"But stay on guard once you return," Regulus chimed in, growling low at some unseen threat. "I'm not sure exactly _what_ it is, but a force with malevolent intentions toward both you and Ancient Fairy-sama is fast approaching."

"Indeed," agreed the dragon, her voice growing distant as Ruka drifted closer and closer to the increasingly clear image of Aki Izayoi, bent over the young girl in concern. "Be wary, my child, of the forces of darkness rapidly gathering from all across your mortal land…and keep your brother close as you do. I sense boundless potential in that boy…and absent our own physical protection, he must act in our stead to keep you alive and well."

"G…Goodbye, guys," Ruka returned awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say. "I'll see you both soon. And…thank you. For everything."

…It took Ruka several more moments to realize that she had vocalized these last few words aloud, not to the two mightiest of her numerous Spirit Partners, but rather to a small room packed with four equally anxious faces. Slurring deliriously as her eyes began to flutter open, the green-haired girl started to drink in the expressions of each of the gathered parties: Aki-san, her gentle hand placed astride her fellow Signer's forehead as she murmured a long string of words containing Japanese spliced together with what sounded vaguely like Latin; Doctor Schmitt, his weary face lined with concern as he attempted to administer a more traditional medical regimen; Martha-sama, sitting to the side and clutching Ruka's right hand with the practiced look of one who had done this for her own children hundreds of times over; and her brother, lightly stroking the other hand and trying very hard to prevent small tears from escaping the corners of his eyes.

But with the sound of Ruka's latest utterance, strained and croaky as it was, the mood in the small chamber changed considerably. "God almighty, you're awake!" exclaimed Martha, smiling broadly as she brought a glass of water to the young girl's lips. "Do you feel well enough to drink this?"

"I…I think so…" Ruka groaned hoarsely, graciously accepting the cool liquid and cherishing the ability to feel something other than mind-numbing pain once again. "How did you…?"

"This incredible young lady managed to single-handedly bring you back from what looked to be the brink of death," Doctor Schmitt announced, inclining his head low toward Aki. "Don't ask me to understand how, but whatever she did, she did it _masterfully_."

"It was…nothing really," said Aki, blushing modestly, but Ruka reached over as far as was possible and squeezed her fellow Signer around the midsection just the same. "Honestly…if you really want to thank someone, Ruka-chan, your brother is more worthy than I. Rua managed to gather us all within moments of your…episode, and stayed unflinchingly by your side until it was over. His quick thinking almost certainly saved your life today."

Now it was Rua's turn to experience his face flushing brilliantly as his sister whispered, "You…you did?"

"Well, I…I just, y'know, did what you told me to, and…" the boy answered, shuffling about uncomfortably, until he was interrupted by Ruka pulling him into a full-body embrace. She seemed to be putting a lot more than she was currently capable of saying into that hug, and Rua wondered briefly whether she had somehow sensed the disquiet that had wracked his brain before she had begun thrashing, before concluding that it didn't really matter and returning the gesture in full-force. "Look, I'm just…glad you're okay," he managed to choke out, the tears he had been storing up in his golden eyes now beginning to flow.

The embrace continued for at least a full minute, the other three occupants of the room carefully averting their eyes from what was evidently an intense – if almost entirely unspoken – family moment. Finally however, Martha broke the silence by requesting, "Now my dear, are you up for explaining to us what just happened? It's perfectly fine if you'd like to rest a little longer before answering questions."

"Well, I think I can give _most_ of the details, based on what Ruka told me before she went off doing that projection thingy," Rua offered helpfully, finally detaching himself from his sister and pulling the single sheet strewn across their bed back over her shuddering form. "See, a few hours ago Ruka woke up from these visions of that…err, 'King of the Underworld' thing that was attacking the Satellite, and she sorta like…flung her soul out of her body in order to fly around and track it. But that's as much as I know, really…"

"I…found it in…America," Ruka coughed, accepting another glass of water from Martha's tender hands. "It was destroying…a spiritual locus…sacred ground…"

"That makes sense…" Aki muttered, apparently realizing something. "Divine told me once that Duel Spirits manifest in this world by way of gathering at hallowed monuments and relics, like the Ise Jing ū or Great Britain's Stonehenge – 'just as insects flock to a bright lamp,' as he used to so…inelegantly put it. Destroying such spots would cripple the ability of adepts such as Ruka to recruit assistance from the Spirit World."

"Exactly…what I thought…" Ruka struggled to continue uttering, politely waving away any further ministrations from the two adults for the time being. At least in broad-strokes, their informal "team" needed to know what information she had just gathered sooner rather than later. "But the King got…distracted…by a power…in the Atlantic Ocean…"

"By _what_, sis?" Rua encouraged.

"Three men…calling themselves…'Team Ragnarok'…lured it there…" Ruka responded, now breathing heavily. "And they summoned forth…three Gods…of the Norse myths…to fight it off…"

"The Norse Gods? You witnessed the _reemergence_ of the legendary Æsir?" asked Aki in astonishment, her eyes wide. "Ruka, which ones were present? Did they triumph? And who _were_ these men who controlled them?"

"Whoa there, let's hold it to one question at a time, Aki-chan," Martha cautioned, placing a hand upon the young woman's shoulder.

"It was…Thor…Loki…and the All-Father…Odin…" Ruka told them, her tone an even mixture of reverence and horror. "Team Ragnarok were…duelists…marked by them. Like…like us."

"So there're more Gods than just the Crimson Dragon fighting these guys, huh?" Rua wondered aloud. "Do ya think they'd be willing to help us defeat Jack?"

At this, Ruka became very tense and her lip began to tremble, before she finally informed her brother with a sobbing hiccup, "That's…why they said…they were there…but they…don't trust us. That's…that's why Odin…"

Aki let out a low gasp. "You mean to say that these men forced the King of the _Polar Gods_ to do this to you? But how could they…" Without finishing her thought out-loud, the redheaded Signer gave a resigned sigh and abruptly changed tact, posing to her younger counterpart, "Ruka, do you trust me?"

"Of…of course I do…Aki Nee-chan…" she stated, smiling in spite of her obvious fatigue and lingering pain.

"Then I would like to try one of the most advanced psychic techniques I know – memory absorption," Aki proclaimed, seeming visibly unsure of herself. "If done correctly and with your permission, it will allow me to take away the memories, as well as all the accompanying suffering, of what you just experienced on the astral plane. You won't forget those recollections outright, but the immediate sting that they have left upon your psyche shall be alleviated. In short, doing this will allow you to rest easier, and it will allow _me_ to see all that transpired through your eyes. But I must warn you immediately, just as with the technique I used to pull you back into your physical body, I am entirely inexperienced with this…"

"Well…that one…worked out fine…the first time…didn't it?" Ruka pointed out encouragingly. "If you think…it'll help…Aki Nee-chan…then I know…it…will…"

And then, with a gentle touch of Aki's gloved hand upon her forehead, the youngest of the Signers drifted back off to the serenity of slumber, the scarlet claws on both of their forearms peaking brilliantly as Aki half-closed her own eyes and began breathing in a deep, pounding rhythm. Tendrils of quasi-mystical power soon began to drift from Ruka's temples and into hers as Martha, Doctor Schmitt, and Rua all stared on in awe, slowly but surely bringing with them the memories of the past few hours of the green-haired girl's life.

…It happened suddenly, without any sort of warning; perhaps the product of the lowered self-confidence entailed with Aki's inexperience with the technique, or else some sort of freak side-effect of placing two Signers in the same psychic circuit. But whatever the reason, Aki soon found herself unwillingly absorbing far more from Ruka's mind than she had initially intended, blinding flashes of a life that was not her own bursting into her mind like split-second sunspots. Moving quickly, she managed to break the connection only moments after this unexpected development had occurred, but not before she found herself standing in what was undoubtedly the twins' apartment, having her hair ruffled in Ruka's place by who must surely be their father.

"_But why do you guys have to go _again?_" whimpered the crying figure of Rua beside her, looking to be perhaps six or seven. "You just got back two days ago!"_

"_Now you both know that your father and I have to work long and hard to maintain this home and this lifestyle," the person who was presumably the twins' mother rejoined coldly, not even bothering to look her children in the eye as she examined her nails. "Besides, we provide you with a nanny, a housekeeper, seven different tutors, and every possession and convenience either of you could ever possibly desire. So why must you _constantly_ be this…ungrateful?"_

"_Mommy, daddy…all we wish is to spend a nice week or two together as a family," Aki felt her lips implore, Ruka's voice escaping from them in place of her own. "While we do appreciate all these wonderful things and servants you've given us, I truly don't believe that that is too much to ask. After all…"_

"_Maybe at a later date, honey," their father interjected aloofly, straightening his tie and checking his watch. "We'll definitely be back for Christmas…or a couple days afterward, at latest. But if we're late, we'll make it right with a double-load of awesome presents – won't that be nice? Now, our flight is leaving in less than an hour, so if you'll excuse us…"_

_The twins' father gave both of them light squeezes – perfunctory, without any more than the barest levels of affection – before picking up a heavy briefcase and heading out the doorway, their mother offering them nothing but a curt nod apiece as she followed behind him. Then the door closed, echoing with an air of finality, and with it, the room dissolved…_

The world around Aki, seemingly composed of precisely the same sort of psychic vapors that she had been absorbing from Ruka's troubled mind, soon reformed into that of a hospital ward, Aki finding herself to be strapped onto a bed and lying still under the covers, able to hear and observe her surroundings but not to make herself known in any way.

"_Sis…" came a strained voice from her side, and a beat passed before Aki realized that a slightly older Rua was holding "her" hand, hyperventilating and generally looking like an overtired, sleep-deprived mess. "Sis, I'm…I'm sorry. Dammit, this stupid coma is all my fault…I shouldn't have left you alone to duel with that guy. I mean, I thought you could take someone like that on your own just fine, but…well, I'm your brother. That means I'm supposed to protect you. And I promise you, Ruka…I'm never going to fail you like that again, so long as I live. I _promise_…"_

Then the hospital room became fog and smoke once more, periodically reshaping itself into distant and hazy shadows of things that had been: Rua and Ruka finding a bruised and beaten-down Yusei near their home in Tops and wondering what they should do with him; Ruka facing off against that psychology duelist at the Fortune Cup and speaking some words of deep meaning with the spirit of her Signer Dragon; flashes of a journey taken through the Duel Monsters Spirit World to retrieve the petrified body of that very same Dragon, just in time to end the threat of the Dark Signer Demak once and for all; and finally the haunting image of Jack Atlas, standing astride the mutilated corpse of Divine as the sadistic psychic's blood stained his jacket, as well as a brief scene of Rua valiantly attempting to comfort his sister in the aftermath of that disturbing moment.

And with the dissolution of that last image, the strange stream of assorted memories flowing from both Ruka's conscious and unconscious minds seemed to end, and Aki thought that she could finally start to see the floor of the twins' current bedchamber once again…except that the lines and shapes of what she knew to be the real world were not yet entirely solid, but rather fading in-and-out along with the vestiges of Ruka's last, most deeply hidden remembrance. This one was different, however – the visions were so distant and so hazy that Aki was fairly certain the green-haired Signer had been too young to fully understand or appreciate their impact at the time she had first experienced them.

"Aki-chan, are you alright?" Doctor Schmitt asked, a concerned hand reaching out to her, even as a faceless man in a lab coat appeared before her as well and began noting a few things on a clipboard.

"_After months of setbacks, this project _finally_ seems to be bearing fruit," the researcher related to a man just out of what must have been Ruka's range of vision. "How much longer do you think we should wait before we report our success to the Director?"_

"Did it work, Aki Nee-chan?" Rua inquired energetically, one hand still clasped around his sleeping sister's. "Did you manage to grab all those memories of the King of the Underworld and the Norse Gods and all that stuff?"

"_Patience, patience, my good fellow," replied the other man, his calm and neutral tones giving Aki the distinct impression that she had heard him speak fairly recently, though his face remained obscured. "Project Wachakuy is easily Director Goodwin's highest-priority 'business venture' currently in operation, and so long as Yliaster's upper echelons feel that we still have need of that long-haired fool we'll need to keep him placated. As such, I feel we should save the revelation of these promising new results until the…proper time."_

"Aki-chan! Aki-chan, speak to us!" bid Martha Okasama, now slightly shaking the young woman's paralyzed form.

"_Ah well, I suppose you're the boss," the first researcher acquiesced, moving over to check the read-outs on a couple of exceedingly complicated machines. "But if the Director gets pissed that we waited so long to tell him about this development, it's all on you…Professor."_

And it was at about this point that the images from experiences that were not her own finally and completely disappeared from Aki Izayoi's sight, and with a great effort she managed to pull herself up from the kneeling position she could not remember assuming and turn back to the other residents of this room, all of whom were staring at her with matching expressions of apprehension and worry.

"What just happened, Aki Nee-chan?" Rua demanded anxiously. "You just kinda sat there without moving an inch for at least five minutes or so. We tried to move you, but you seemed to be, like…frozen in place, or something."

"I'm…fine, Rua," Aki attempted to assure him, her attention still divided between the physical world and whatever long-forgotten scene she had just witnessed. "I managed to get what I needed from your sister quite easily; it just…took a little longer than I expected, that's all. Now, pardon me, but I really need to…to lie down…"

And with that Aki was stumbling out of that tiny room without another glance, half-delirious and feeling a desperate, overwhelming need to get away from all human contact. Her own cramped chambers on the second floor of Zora's home were out of the question, for she needed very badly to meditate at this moment and she could not risk someone walking in on her as she did; no, it was best for her to return to the place where Rua had found her, that desolate gym that held an inexplicable sense of security and warmth for her, no matter how little sense it made. Attacking that much-abused punching bag for another half-hour or so might be enough to clear her head of all the unwelcome information and sift through to that which was actually valuable…

She knew that Doctor Schmitt and Martha were chasing after her – Rua having presumably remained by his unconscious sister's side – but even in a dress she was quite a bit faster than either of them and knew that they would likely check the entirety of the main house before even considering the outside streets. In any event, she would at least be able to buy _some_ amount of time in solitude this way.

…Or at least, that had been the plan. As soon as Aki had bolted the door to the gym, yet _more_ images from a foreign source assaulted the core of her psyche – a large expanse of rubble in the middle of the city; a tall brunette man with long, matted hair whom she did not recognize; and finally (in a moment that caused her breath to catch in her throat) Yusei Fudo, standing atop that same broad stretch of debris as his jacket billowed silently in the wind.

Then the crimson claw set upon her right forearm burst back to life and filled the room with its blinding glow, and with the indescribable rushing sound that Aki had come to recognize intimately as the engagement of a teleportation signal, Yusei's magnificent D-Wheel came into view directly before her. But the person sitting astride that hand-constructed seat was most assuredly not Yusei Fudo.

"Hello, Aki Izayoi," greeted the Dark Signer who wielded the sign of the hummingbird, venomous hatred evident with every syllable she pronounced. "I do so hope that you are prepared to die today."

[-]

This was Hel.

Harald Ledberg was having enough difficulties simply trying to wrap his head around the idea that there could be a single person on this Earth – and a wielder of one of those unholy creatures that had jumpstarted the countdown toward Ragnarok eighteen years ago, no less – apparently too "pure" for even _Odin_ to successfully judge, without the tiny little complication of the King of the Underworld being back up for another round. The full fury of three of the mightiest Gods of antiquity and the monster had been little more than momentarily inconvenienced…as it was amply demonstrating by skimming across the ocean at incredible velocities and firing a constant stream of Hellfire at its would-be killers.

Harald, Brave, and Dragan were not speaking as Sebastian expertly piloted their jet around the mayhem, fully occupied as they were in maintaining the corporeal forms of the Æsir via the power of their Rune Eyes. Unfortunately, the King's unrelenting barrage of dark flames – coupled with their Gods' constant need to consume their channeled energy – had somehow begun to silently push Thor, Loki, and Odin onto the defensive, the trio of Norse deities now being forced to hover across the skies at similar speeds to match the demonic juggernaut. And worse yet, they appeared to be very slowly losing ground against it throughout all of the back-and-forth, and that was definitely a severe problem; as soon as this battle touched the shores of dry land, the entirety of mainland Europe would be in danger of total devastation.

As such, Harald was making a concerted effort to drive the King of the Underworld in circles, neither wishing for it to proceed further toward the Eurasian continent nor to turn back and raze the portions of America it had "skipped over" in its eagerness to challenge the Polar Gods. Admittedly this stratagem would not serve as a permanent or even particularly long-term solution – the well of ancient power upon which their Rune Eyes could call was vast but not unlimited, whereas there was as-of-yet no assurance that this physical Devil was at all bound by that same restriction – but the silver-haired Norwegian was rather urgently searching for an alternate plan of attack in the meantime. As of now their team was suffering dreadfully for his rash decision to rush after Jack half-cocked, but it could not be helped…all of both the human and spiritual worlds were depending on them now.

Wait a minute…

"Gentlemen," Harald began, motioning for Sebastian to bring their plane back to its divinely supported hovering position. "Do you happen to remember the last technique we discussed before departing from Norway?"

"It was creating that weird rainbow-thing, right?" responded Brave, his eyes not leaving the windows through which the battle of the century could be observed. "What, are you suggesting we _gay_ the monster to death?"

"It was the Rainbow Bridge, Bifröst…the legendary conduit between the world of mortals and the world of the Gods," Harald corrected him tersely. "The original bridge, guarded by the watchman Heimdallr, has long-since been decimated, but with the confluence of all three of our Runic Eyes burning at their fullest intensity we can manifest a temporary replacement. And furthermore, rather than being restricted solely to connecting Midgard and Asgard, the Bifröst we create can bridge _any_ spatial gap, so long as doing so is within the Polar Gods' power."

"I think I see where you're heading with this…but where, pray tell, are you proposing we 'relocate' this fight to?" Dragan asked, his expression grim as he grasped his seat hard enough to leave small dents.

"To the only location I am aware of that is capable of containing the King of the Underworld with minimal loss of life – the Duel Monsters Spirit World," Harald pronounced, already moving toward the rear end of the jet so as to open the cargo hold and provide a more direct link to the outside atmosphere. "Or, more specifically, the least-populated and most desolate of the Spirit World's twelve dimensions…the Undead Wasteland."

"Alrighty then…but you're gonna have to 'steer,' dude," Brave acceded, both he and Dragan falling into place on either side of their leader as Sebastian wordlessly opened the cargo bay doors. Deafening stormwinds immediately began to blast directly into the plane, but the trio's Rune Eyes shielded them from enough of the volume that they were able to hold their Gods' cardboard relics aloft, placed in formation to ensure peak conductivity of the Æsir's divine might. Then Harald Ledberg, Brave Gosforth, and Dragan Thorwald all shouted a great, guttural cry in a language long-since forgotten by the mouths of their fellow men, and in unison slammed the cards upon their waiting Duel Disks.

The Solid Vision technology, of course, was not the reason that the Disks had to be included in the mystical circuit – rather, it was the miniature Momentum reactors spinning wildly within the core of each, boosting the already near-boundless power of the Rune Eyes to truly astronomical levels. Being a biologist rather than a physicist by trade, Harald wasn't liable to pretend that he understood exactly _how_, but experience had taught him well that harnessing the unlimited energy of Momentum, despite its drastically negative effect on the world in general, was both useful and necessary in achieving modern-day miracles by their Gods' hands.

And now, as the chaotically shimmering energy continued to rotate at ever-increasing velocities, it was time to employ its destructive potential and achieve another. Clearing his mind of all thoughts but a simple, almost primal serenity and silently instructing his teammates to do the same, Harald fished a blank piece of cardboard from his pocket and placed it at the center of their divine triumvirate, allowing the sacred energies to bathe the card in their multi-hued glow. They had done something like this only a handful of times before – specifically, to empower their decks with Spells and Traps specifically designed to interact with the Polar Gods – but the ability for Momentum to transfer thoughts into reality was well-proven and, while immensely dangerous, also their last hope for stopping the King's rampage from killing any more innocent bystanders.

"I…I think it's working…" Brave murmured, bracing himself against a particularly strong gust of wind as text and a picture slowly began to imprint themselves onto the blank card.

"Indeed," stated Harald laconically, allowing the new Spell Card's genesis to speak for itself. Sensing the imminent gambit of his avatar, Odin seized the opportunity to strike the King of the Underworld with the holy prongs of Gungnir, sending it sprawling into a huddled, oozing mass upon the surface of the Atlantic, and in the time that it took to reconstitute its upper body the Polar Gods raised up their arms to form a minor spatial gap through which the forthcoming bridge could be constructed.

There were a brief few moments of palpable suspense as they did so, the only sounds roaring through the background being the dying remains of the thunderstorm Thor had called down and the low hum of the Momentum reactors as their rotation brought life to the dimensional key that had been lost to man and God alike for over one thousand years. And then, with a surge of blinding light…it was complete.

"I activate _The Rainbow Bridge Bifröst!_" Harald called out in triumph, stringing the beam of pure energy still streaming from the newly generated Spell through both the ring formed by their rattling Duel Disks and the one formed by the Æsir's hallowed hands. Gradually this white beam widened and split into its component colors, blazing with the intensity of a sun as it forced open the gateway to the spiritual realm, until eventually the dimensional fissure enveloped the entire horizon, exposing the waters of the Earth's ocean to the dunes of the Undead Wasteland.

"Alright Thor, take it from here!" shouted Dragan, and with a mighty nod the God of Thunder summoned forth a great burst of lightning that coursed through the reforming King and channeled straight back into Mjölnir. With the colossal demon's strength thus temporarily stolen once more, Loki followed up by grinning madly and conjuring a net of mystical chains to drag the King of the Underworld along with them, as the Polar Gods drifted majestically through the immense portal and into the Duel Monsters Spirit World.

"They may be able to manifest without their physical cards so long as they reside on the spiritual plane, but without our Rune Eyes in close proximity to feed them they shall stand little chance against that creature," Harald explained, answering his teammates' unspoken questions. "That means it's now or never! Sebastian, take us through that rift!"

And with that the members of Team Ragnarok disappeared from the mortal world, ready to do battle with their nigh-immortal foe upon the sands of a new arena.

[-]

"And…yeah, I've got him!" Breo Athos yelled out, pumping his fist in the air. "Dojima Yamamoto, arrested alongside Shizaki Katou and Uryu Tanaka on May 2, 2025 for the theft of two crates full of magazines containing…ahem, 'questionable material.' So long as I have their records up, might as well check the locations for all three of them, don't you think?"

"Eh, can't hurt," Leo Laruto responded with a shrug, imputing the codes from the three petty criminals' files into the coordinate tracking software and engaging the program. "Hmm…looks like they're all hiding out together in…yep, Dojima's old family house! Now that I've got the map up, the neighborhood looks a lot more familiar – Dojima, Shizaki, and Uryu all seem to have cooped themselves up right between my mom's house and the ol' local gym. I guess that's something of a relief; Uryu's kind of a dick but he's not stupid, so if he decided they should hide out there then it's a pretty safe bet that that area isn't crawling with zombies."

"So your mother lives in _that_ building, sonny?" Tenzen Yanagi queried, gesturing to the large structure adjacent to the current shelter of Uryu and his small crew. "Pretty nice place, I gotta say! Well, just going by square-footage, at least…"

"My dad used to have a home clock-repair business in the garage, so the whole structure's pretty massive," Leo explicated for the older man's benefit. "After he died…well, the garage has pretty much just been collecting dust since then, I'm afraid. I've been out of the country all these years in the hopes that I could learn how to repair his pride-and-joy and finally bring life _back_ to that place, but now…"

Soichi Kazama, who had now finally managed to wrench himself upright, placed a sympathetic hand on the young blond's arm and said, "I understand how you feel…I followed in the footsteps of my old man too. He was a cop as well, back in the days before Security; died in the line of duty when I was six, taking a bullet for some pro-duelist guy. But that's neither here-nor-there, of course…point is, we've finally got a fix on one of the people we've been searching for, so what are we doing still kickin' our feet around here?"

"Hold on a minute, Soichi," Breo cautioned, tapping a finger pensively against his beard. "Leaving this base means risking our lives even in the best of scenarios, and in this case we're not even certain we'll _find_ anyone or anything useful at Leo's house. We need to have a significant reason to head out there if we're going to justify exposing ourselves to the inherent danger."

"Well, like I said, it's a long-shot…but if my Auntie Martha was displaced by that giant monster you guys were talking about, it's a pretty sure bet that we can find her at my mom's," Leo told them all. "And Martha raised both Jack _and_ Yusei, so having her on our side can only be a good thing, if only 'cause of all the connections she has throughout Satellite."

"I guess that makes sense, especially if we're looking to gather up every single one of those 'Signer' people," Stephanie Bloomsdale agreed, looking thoughtful. "But one thing is still bothering me…exactly _how_ are we planning to get into the Satellite? It's not like we've got a private jet or anything."

"Helicopter, actually," declared Breo with a chuckle, flipping a switch on a nearby console to change the security camera feed to _Always'_ vehicle bay, where – indeed – a flamboyantly painted helicopter could be seen at the center, apparently ready to take off at a moment's notice. "Andore has a pilot's license, in case you're wondering…took the test for kicks and actually managed to _pass_, somehow. And while drunk off his _ass_, to boot."

The general absurdity of this tale managed to elicit laughter from every single person in the room, and in was in this brief moment of unguardedness that the redhead in question decided to tempt fate on the other side of the complex…and it was in the very next that the power for _Always_ went out completely.

Being located several floors further underground than the other half of Team Kizuna, Breo's group did not significantly feel the tremor that sent their fellows sprawling to the ground, but they certainly noticed when every light and computer screen within sight went dark, courtesy of the complete decimation of the fortress' outside generator. Mercifully, the back-up system kicked in a few seconds later and began to mitigate the damage somewhat, but in the brief moments of total blackness an equally pervasive silence had blanketed _Always_, and consequently even they could hear the pounding of emaciated hands against the walls that indicated their trouble was only just beginning.

"Stephanie, you run up to Jean's group and find out what's going on!" Breo ordered, and the former waitress gave a gulp and a quick nod before disappearing up the stairs. "And Leo, pull up the feeds from all our security cameras. I wanna take a look at whatever's outside."

"Not like we don't know, right?" Leo replied grimly, and the worst of their collective suspicions were confirmed as each and every screen began to display a nigh-endless swarm of walking corpses, striking their pale fists at every point along the walls of the building in what appeared to be an organized search for some sort of weak-spot. Exactly _who_ was performing said organization was unclear, but the audio feed from the front of _Always_ was picking up – in addition to the clanging hands and incessant moaning – the distinctive sound of a whip cracking from within the crowd. And so far as they were aware…these things weren't capable of wielding such a weapon.

"Everyone, come on, Jean and Andore want us back upstairs! We're under attack from Jack's forces!" exclaimed Stephanie as she clattered down the steps and back into the computer room, waving dramatically with her arms for the others to follow. The reactions of the various team members to this imploration were fairly diverse – Breo and Kazama kept stoic as Stephanie placed an arm around the latter and helped him back to his feet, Leo shuddered and tugged hard at his bandana, and Yanagi yelped and placed his arms over his head as if performing a duck-and-cover exercise – but all four followed the instruction nonetheless and headed back up.

Fortunately, the base was made of some rather sturdy stuff, so by the time the quintet reunited with Jean, Andore, the Izayois, and the countryside trio the situation did not appear to have worsened considerably, other than that the hammering upon the walls was much more noticeably cacophonous on the ground level. And of course, the screeching zombie also present in the room, thrashing about wildly as if it sensed the proximity of its numerous brethren, wasn't exactly helping matters.

"So you _did_ manage to capture one of those things," Kazama commented, peering over at the hastily scrawled sign reading "Reggie's Crib" upon the impenetrable capsule. "Do you think they might've followed you back in when you caught it?"

"I'm…not sure," Jean admitted, visibly working to stabilize his breathing pattern. "I mean, I _thought_ we made sure not to be seen while we were catching this guy and bringing it back in…"

"Perhaps they are more intelligent than we initially gave them credit for?" suggested Hideo Izayoi, an arm around his wife's shoulder as she shivered. "They may have set up scouts to watch for human activity all around the city, for all we know."

"No, I don't think that's quite it," Breo stated broodingly. "When I was taking a listen outside using our recording equipment, I heard a whip being used to direct the flow of the hordes. "My guess is that there's at least one human heading up this siege…and that _they_ were the one who discovered the location of our base."

"You're right on the money, C-listers," boomed a slightly accented and sneeringly cruel voice, though the source was unclear. Holding their ears in pain as this new noise filled the atmosphere, each member of Team Kizuna twisted their heads around in a vain attempt to discover who exactly was speaking. Instead of this becoming clear, however, a second voice proceeded to add itself to the din, this one female.

"C-listers…indeed, my 'partner' describes you quite aptly," she concurred, cackling derisively. "Rest assured that the fact that you all must now die has _nothing_ to do with the damage you could potentially inflict upon the Dark King's vision – which is, of course, quite negligible. No, you little shits are simply going to provide an example of just how…_unhealthy_ resisting your rightful ruler's will can be."

"Ja…we're going to make sure that your fancy little security cameras broadcast each of you being torn limb-from-limb across the world, so that every human being still managing to draw breath will know how traitors to the Underworld are dealt with," the male voice hissed. "So enjoy the few minutes you have left before we break through your pathetic defenses and gorily slaughter you _all._ Don't worry, though…no one's going to miss you."

Then the two disembodied voices died away, and the intensity of Reggie's wailing and the fists striking their stronghold from all directions went up accordingly, causing both Setsuko and Leo to begin hyperventilating. Apparently skipping that step altogether, Stephanie started to shake all over and shrilly babble, "Oh God – oh _God!_ – I'm too young to die, I'm just a waitress and I should've never done this and oh Lord what a way to go and fuck, I can't…"

"Shut…the _fuck_…_up!_" roared Jean at the top of his lungs, instantly bringing all the other members of Team Kizuna to complete attention. "Look, we don't have _time_ for panicking right now, alright? This is the point where we need to prove the bonds we named ourselves for today are stronger than a swarm of shambling corpses and two crazy fucks with a whip, so pull yourselves the Hell together and let's get moving!"

"Moving on _what_, exactly?" Andore demanded skeptically.

"Quite a lot, actually," Jean informed them all. "Gather around, team…I think I've got a plan."

[-]

An entire ocean away, the sun was just beginning to set upon a quaint little town in California, where Judai Yuki was standing out on his old school friend's veranda and beginning to drink in the descending darkness.

"A new moon, Sho…we're in luck," he remarked distantly, gazing out upon the dim twinklings of the first stars of the night. "With the blackness of the sky almost completely uninterrupted, my powers should be at their absolute peak tonight. Good thing, too…I've got some stuff to tell you guys that Yubel's gonna be a Helluva lot more qualified to explain in-depth, so I could use the extra juice to manifest her for the full night. Honestly, I'm pretty Gods-awful these days at putting stuff into terms that people who _haven't_ spent time digging in all thirteen dimensions can understand."

"Are you…sure it's wise to summon her out in front of everyone, aniki?" asked Sho Marufuji carefully. "I mean…well, it's not like the memories any of us have of her are exactly…fond…"

"You _do_ realize that she can hear everything that I can, right?" Judai responded teasingly, still inhaling the growing darkness as deeply as if it were his first breath of oxygen in months. "Seriously though, I'm kinda banking on the whole 'gratitude at seeing me alive' to smooth over that particular part. After all that happened in our third year, I'm not demanding that any of you _like_ Yubel…I just hope that you can accept that she and I are a packaged deal and move on. We've got scant few allies already; we can't afford to turn away any of the ones we have."

"I…guess that makes sense," Sho conceded, nervously ruffling his collar. "So, how long before you bring out the rest of the gang?"

"I should be capable of generating the portal right…about…" Judai began, mentally counting down the seconds as the sun dipped further and further below the horizon, "…_now._"

No one who wasn't specifically looking for it would have been able to notice the rift that Judai's immense power ripped open in that moment – subtlety was the very nature of the True Darkness, after all. Even its occupants did not initially perceive its presence, having been suspended in a timeless void for the better part of a day…but they certainly noticed when Judai briefly donned the golden eyes of the Supreme King and gave them all a delicate but effective mental shove, sending the four Duel Academia professors clattering onto the hardwood floors of Sho's small home.

"Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck-fuck-_fuck_…okay, I know it's been said a million times, but I really _would_ like to get the number of the bus that hit me," prattled Rei Saotome, evidently still at least mildly delirious from the rather disorienting effects of hanging out in a pocket dimension for any extended length of time.

"That wasn't a bus-s-s-s-s…" slurred Fubuki Tenjoin, who was (whether by active choice or general inclination was unclear, as one could never really tell with Fubuki) responding to those same stimuli as if he was severely intoxicated. "It had wings and pink slippers and a funny horny-nosy-thing…like a _narwhal!_ Oh narwhal, narwhal, faster than lightning!"

"You're both…acting ridiculous…" mumbled his sister Asuka; her husband, Jun Manjoume, merely nodded weakly before turning over and retching violently onto the nearby carpet.

"Maybe, but on the bright side, at least I now know how the whole lot of you can be expected to deal with hangovers," asserted Judai brightly, causing the quartet to immediately go rigid and look up at the long-haired gentleman currently sealing up the small fissure he had torn in the space-time fabric with one hand and siphoning away Manjoume's vomit into the closing portal with the other.

"Holy…shit…" Manjoume managed to sputter out, summarizing fairly well the first reactions of all his colleagues.

"Judai-kun…God, Judai-kun, you're alive! You're fucking _alive!_" screamed Rei ecstatically, attempting to get herself to her feet and hug her former crush but managing only to make a spectacular pratfall three feet short of her target.

"Don't worry, I'll get you all back to baseline health…so long as none of you are harboring any secret terminal illnesses I don't know about, that technique's pretty much child's play," Judai assured them brightly, his eyes flickering back-and-forth between their murky brown and their inhuman gold as he placed hands on each of his old friends' foreheads in turn and healed their lingering deliria.

"Looks like you've been…practicing," breathed Manjoume as he shook his head and began to smooth down his wild hair a bit. "I sure as Hell don't remember you being _this_…proficient before graduation."

"Well, it _has_ been a while," Judai observed with a sheepish grin, before being bowled over by Rei's second, far more successful attempt at an embrace. Smiling broadly, Fubuki and Asuka both moved to do the same, while Manjoume gave a terse nod and brief handshake once they were finished. Of course, Judai hadn't really been expecting much more from the black-coated duelist, and so he chuckled merrily all the same.

"How did you…I mean, how did _we_…urgh, I don't even know where to begin," admitted Asuka, blushing slightly at her babbling tone. "The last thing I remember, Fubuki, Rei, and I were heading away from Academia Island on the boats, while Jun was staying back to fight off that…that _thing_."

"The King of the Underworld," Judai informed her. "I'll be explaining a _lot_ more about that particular abomination in due time, but for the moment, here's the quick run-down: I learned a few months ago that some really serious shit was about to go down in Japan…the biggest threat to Earth's survival since Darkness' bid to enshroud the world in eternal despair. Since then I've been working around the clock to combat this growing threat, of which the King is an extremely significant part…but by the time I went to retrieve you all to aid me, I was nearly too late. I just barely managed to shove you all into my own personal pocket dimension before Manjoume got charbroiled."

"Hmmph…well, if you're looking for a 'thank-you,' then save your breath," Jun insisted, though both men knew all the meaning that was implicit in those words. This was only strengthened by the Osiris head briefly looking to his left-and-right and then pulling his dormitory's former star-pupil into the stiffest and most fleeting of one-armed hugs, which Judai returned with as much enthusiasm as was possible in such a position.

"Alrighty, I think I gotcha so far…just one more question before I let you get back to your story," Fubuki told him as his head bopped to-and-fro to some long-forgotten pop ditty. "Where exactly are we _now?_"

"The home of our little team's new surprise 'acquisition,'" Judai answered promptly. "Now why don't you come out of that corner and get a good look at everyone, dude?"

Doing as he was asked, Sho Marufuji stepped out of the shadows from which he had been observing the entire scene from a distance with his mouth agape and proceeded toward the others…causing Fubuki's jaw to drop several inches and murmur, "No, it can't be…it really _can't_ be…"

Then he gulped and, with a daring of hopefulness that he had not had the opportunity to put forth in decades, slowly whispered, "…_Ryo?_"

Performing a double-take toward the man who was now shuffling about nervously and staring down at his feet in embarrassment and sadness over the mistake, Judai reflected that there was probably some merit to this erroneous impression, particularly in the dim half-light he had insisted Sho maintain within his home until he was done with this briefing. It didn't help that the younger Marufuji brother had apparently taken to wearing both his coat and his cerulean hair fairly long since they had all last been in contact, though the latter was rather a few shades lighter than the Kaiser had ever sported in life.

Still, the greatest element of resemblance between the two siblings, one living and one deceased, was in their faces; no matter what dormitory he had called home Sho Marufuji had always given off a perpetual aura of innocence, contrasting starkly with his battle-hardened and cynical brother…but now that very same look was Sho's default expression, a reflection of just how deeply Ryo's death still affected him after all these years.

Readjusting his trademark circular glasses (still several sizes too small for his wide eyes) so that Fubuki might realize his gaffe, Sho simultaneously sniffed and blushed before replying, "Sorry to let you down, Fubuki-sama…but when your mind is telling you something's impossible, it's probably best to listen to it."

"…Err, nonsense! I pull off the impossible at least three times a day!" Judai cut in, evidently attempting to alleviate the tension and awkwardness currently pervading the room.

"Yeah, yeah…I guess I was just being stupid. But it really _is_ great to see you've survived too, buddy," Fubuki maintained, displaying a warm and genuine smile as proof. "C'mon Sho, it's been way too damn long…"

"Alright, alright, I get it. We all love each other; hugs and kisses all-around," Manjoume interjected drawlingly, rolling his eyes as the late Kaiser's brother and best friend both embraced each other as well. "But if I remember what Judai was spouting a few minutes ago correctly, we've sorta got bigger things to discuss than a bunch of touchy-feely reunion speeches."

"Jun…!" Asuka started to chastise, but Judai held up a hand to stop her.

"No, no, he's right," Judai acceded with a deep sigh. "I've got a _ton_ of information to lay onto you guys, and not nearly enough time to do it in. We can all get reacquainted further in the days ahead…but for now, as ironic as this has gotta sound coming from me…"

Then a brownish mist, tinged with blue and purple, began to escape from Judai's eyes and mouth, before reforming into the immortal Duel Spirit known only as Yubel, who concluded her lover's sentence with a smirking, "…Class is in session."

[-]

Snow. Every way that Tetsu Ushio turned, he could see nothing more than a wide, white expanse of the stuff, stretching on for miles upon miles in all directions.

Ushio had never really been a particular fan of wintertime – the frigid temperatures would always wreak havoc on his sinuses, and the requisite bulkier attire usually did little more than make him feel distinctly goofy-looking. As such, finding himself stranded in the middle of a seemingly endless tundra was not exactly doing wonders for the Security Officer's already shaken constitution.

Fighting the natural panic that would tend to set in when a person finds themselves hopelessly lost in a strange land, tired and cold and hungry and possessing only the vaguest of ideas over how they came to be there, Ushio shivered wildly and began to take stock of his current situation, trying to keep the cool head that Security had burrowed into him for so many years. First thing was first, checking for injuries…but beyond a general numbness from the arctic climate and a bit of bruising on his hands and knees, he seemed to have made it to this place without much issue.

Of course, that brought the burly Officer to the obvious follow-up questions: where _was_ this place, and how exactly had he been transported here from Japan? The fact that the answer wasn't coming immediately to mind worried Ushio quite a bit, since he was well-aware that temporary memory impairment could be a sign of an unnoticed concussion, and his head _was_ throbbing rather painfully as he slowly moved to pull himself to his feet…

But then the memories began flooding back, vague and disjointed though they were – heading down to the Satellite's warehouse district in order to rescue Saiga and the kids, confronting that psychopathic giant who had kidnapped Mikage-san and his equally insane cohorts, desperately diving through some weird white portal-thing in pursuit of that giant and his unconscious hostage…

"I…I've gotta find him…" Ushio resolved determinedly, beginning to trudge forward through the knee-high snowbanks and not doing a very good job of it. The tedious layer of powder was both thick and unyielding, and to be frank, he simply wasn't _dressed_ at all for weather like this, particularly as the first flurry of a fresh new blizzard now appeared to be blowing in from the horizon.

And so it went for the next half-hour or so (or at least, that's roughly what it _felt_ like; both his watch and his phone appeared to have been rendered completely inoperable by all that had transpired) – walking in a randomly selected direction and succeeding at nothing but replacing the vast stretch of thick, white mist before him with another, utterly identical one. It would have helped had he had the sun or any other celestial landmarks to guide his sojourn, but the sky remained as blank and inscrutable as the rest of his surroundings, leaving him with no measure by which to gauge his progress as he proceeded onward through the icy wasteland.

But he would _not_ quit; Saiga was defenseless and that man – nay, that _monster_ – who had taken him had made it eminently clear that he possessed no compunctions against tearing the skin straight off the young man's bones, should be feel so inclined. And so Ushio pressed forward, placing one foot in front of the other even as it grew increasingly difficult to breathe, or even…even to stand upright…

"_Could it be…he thinks those leaves are money?" asked one Domino High student, gazing in utter bewilderment at the sight of hall monitor Tetsu Ushio giddily rolling around in a large pile of autumn leaves.  
_

"_Yuck! It's not just leaves, there's garbage in there too!" cried his girlfriend, making a disgusted face and turning away._

"_But he _looks_ happy…" mumbled another teenager, shrugging off the display and beginning to walk back home. It didn't matter, though, because he was entirely right_; _Ushio had the money all to himself and couldn't possibly have been happier about it, even licking a few of the lower-denomination bills a few times over just to prove he could. No one else might've been able to understand, but that just meant more cash for him, and he was perfectly fine by that._

_And the day just kept getting better, as his own march home saw a pathway literally _littered_ with riches, oodles of yen coins and bills just lying on the ground or falling from the trees, somehow ignored by every other man and woman walking the streets of Domino City. By the time he arrived at his mother's apartment, his pockets were stuffed with what he roughly calculated to be around five-months' worth of income, and so despite having lost the "business" of that little shit Yugi Muto he was feeling quite pleased with himself as he sauntered into the kitchen, whistling absently as he did._

"_Ma, I'm home!" he shouted, throwing his keys onto the counter and waiting for a response that did not come. Walking around the small and rather unkempt home he eventually found her passed out stone-cold on the couch, an assortment of needles and bottles strewn about her frail and heavily veined form._

"_Ah shit, ma, not again," grunted Ushio as he threw a blanket over his evidently relapsed mother and began heading upstairs to count his bounty. Of course, it wasn't like he was really one to talk about drug addiction, but at least _he_ was young and full of excess energy, whereas his distinctly middle-aged mother was…less so. Only last week the doctor had berated her in no uncertain terms that she had, at best, another couple of years left in her if she kept shooting up like this daily._

_But they would worry about that more once they were rich, and oh, how rich they now were! And this initial stash would only be the beginning; in an hour or so he would head back out and continue collecting these wonderful treasures, until he could outright _buy_ a rehab facility or three, specifically dedicated to making sure that his mom kicked this heroin habit to the curb once and for all…and maybe himself, eventually…_

"_You know…that's a lie…Tetsu…" croaked the wizened and tired voice of Karachi Ushio, and the teenager jumped so radically that he nearly fell down the few steps he had already ascended. Turning around, he saw that the nightdress-clad woman had managed to pull herself to her feet and was now advancing slowly toward him…something that simply wasn't _possible_ this soon after a dose like that._

_Something was seriously, _seriously_ wrong here._

"_You know as well as I do…that in another two years, I will be dead…and you will be poor…and destitute…and a general failure," the woman hissed, her eyelids snapping open to reveal bloodshot irises and pupils so heavily contracted that the eyes barely appeared human. "The bills you now hold in your hand…are an illusion, just like _every_ success you have ever experienced in your life…"_

"_Ma…what're you talking about?" Ushio demanded, unconsciously taking a few steps further up the stairs. "You're…you're hallucinating from the drugs, ma. You're not making any sense."_

"_Oh, I'm certainly _not_ your mother, mortal scum…just wearing her for the moment, like a second skin…" she bellowed with a distinctively unfeminine snarl, before the blood in her eyes expanded outward and swallowed her entire form, expanding into lines of deepest red that crisscrossed with the ambient darkness in their hovel of an apartment to reform into a massive spider, towering over the trembling hall monitor and clicking its pincers eagerly._

"_I may be gone from this particular plane of existence, My former slave…but within the blackest recesses of your mind, the Jibakushin Uru still lives," the spider screeched. "I took you for My own twice over before you gained that pathetic little mark upon your forearm, and whether you wish to admit it or not, that frightens you…frightens you oh so _very_ deeply…"_

"_I…I mean…what…you…I…help, someone, _help!_" Ushio stammered, now attempting to scramble away from the creature on his hands and knees and desperately fighting to hold onto control of his sanity._

"_This gets Us nowhere," Uru spat in disgust, clicking its pincers a few more times and dissolving the world around them, until a much older Tetsu Ushio remained, clad in the uniform of a Security Officer and panting heavily from the harrowing experience._

"You!_" he yelled furiously, pointing an accusatory finger at the deceased Earthbound God. "You're that motherfucker that _ate_ Martha-sama!"_

"_Ah, that's much better. And yes, that is indeed who I am…to a degree, at least," Uru stated. "I take the shape of the almighty God who led the Jibakushin in their Second Coming, but that deity fell by the hand of the Signer Yusei Fudo and his familiar, the Stardust Dragon. No, I am nothing more or less than the sum total of your inner darkness, Tetsu Ushio – of your deepest fears and most abject despair. Why you chose to represent Me in this form is for _you_ to interpret. Although, if I might hazard a guess, I believe that you subconsciously feel as if My repeated possessions of your mind are signs that you are…unworthy to bear that sign."_

_This charge appeared to have struck quite potently at the Security Officer's nerves, severely weakened as they were by the cold and fatigue his physical body was experiencing, for now he felt himself collapse to his knees in this empty void, part of him wishing that this enormous arachnid would simply consume him whole and get this matter over with. At least, that was until…_

"_You will be _silent_, spider!" boomed a voice from Ushio's jacket pocket, and as if in a trance the Officer moved to open it, allowing a thin white figure to escape from there, revealing itself moments later as the very dragon Uru had just mentioned as its killer._

"_I have destroyed you once, and I shall do so again, as many times as is necessary," Stardust Dragon cried out, shielding Ushio with its wide and protective wings. "This man may not be my chosen avatar, but he is a warrior of nearly unparalleled bravery and skill, and a fine emissary for the just cause of my Master. You, specter-given-form, will _not_ impugn his honor."_

"_My existence is merely a sign that he feels the need to impugn his _own_ honor, draconic swine," Uru rejoined. "I believe it telling that, sent reeling through the world of his own disordered mind in a feverish haze, this mortal's first summoned memory should be of his days as a petty school bully, caring naught for any soul but himself…or did you think that a few pretty words from your own precious Signer would be enough to erase over thirty mortal years' worth of self-loathing?"_

"_Tetsu Ushio's path to redemption is a gradual one…but at least he has possessed the strength of character to take it," Stardust Dragon argued, flexing its wings warningly. "Though he may not yet know it, that is the reason the fine hand of destiny has brought him into our world, for upon the completion of this most arduous of quests, the Akaki Ryu is certain that he shall emerge into the human realm a fully changed man, and one of the greatest soldiers in the fight for balance that history has ever seen."_

"_We shall see then, dragon…yes, We shall see…" the spider murmured coolly, before giving a great, hideous cry and dissipating into the shadowy ether, leaving Tetsu Ushio standing alone alongside the hovering form of the Signer Dragon he had been handed temporary custody of. Stardust Dragon opened its maw and appeared to be on the verge of saying something to the scarred Security Officer, but then both it and the rest of this dark, empty world began to fade away as well, leaving nothing but the sensation of frigid winds upon his face, and the feeling of soothing hands running down his skin, bringing it a life-giving warmth…_

Ushio's eyes snapped open. While it did not surprise the Officer in the least that he had fallen unconscious in the wake of that increasingly severe snowstorm, the sight of another human being nursing him back to health – much less a female one – was rather…less expected.

Except that, now that he began to get a closer look at her, there was some inexplicable quality about her that made him quite certain that she _wasn't_ human, though he would have been hard-pressed if asked to actually name _what_ feature was giving him this impression. Perhaps it was the way her face was shaped – perfectly rounded and angled, as if she was more of an artist's conception of the mortal form, rather than a specimen of the species…or else those eyes, seemingly frozen over with a perpetual blue tint, even in the portions that should have been white.

Of course, the fact that she was wielding two enormous snowflake-like weapons as if they were chakram, occasionally twirling one around with a graceful flair as she set about healing his bruising and head-wound, _might've_ also had something to do with it.

"Who…who are you?" Ushio asked weakly, feeling sorely tempted to simply drift back to sleep but acknowledging that it was probably better that he remain conscious for the moment.

The young woman (if that was indeed what she was) gave a sudden start at this groaning outburst, but appeared pleased with it all the same. "Ah, very good…you are finally up," she observed, now rubbing some sort of paste on one of his larger injuries. "You have been sick with fever for many hours now, speaking incoherently, with the madness of a being mere inches from death…but I am pleased to see that you have regained your sense of self in time, good sir. And as for your question, you may call me Maihime…the 'Dance Princess.' I found your limp form passed out in the snowbanks while I was out…practicing during the most recent blizzard, and brought you here immediately to recuperate."

"Th…Thank you," croaked the Security Officer, attempting to make a grateful gesture that probably came off as more of a generic wave than anything else. "But, if…if I may be…so bold…where _is_ 'here'?"

"See for yourself," Maihime said with a small smile, before ripping away the animal-skin that was serving as this abode's door and exposing the incapacitated Ushio to the full view of her village, a long stretch of tents and ice-dwellings extending for miles upon miles on-end.

Drawn by the motion, another passing villager bedecked in ornate blue robes raised his icicle-tipped spear to the sky and shouted jovially, "_Oho_, you are awake! Let praise be to Trishula, our human brother…and welcome to L'ad, capital of the Ice Boundary!"

[-]

_(Samuel Bolger: 4000 LP – Crow Hogan: 2600 LP)_

Despite his unceasing bravado, Crow Hogan was well-aware that anything short of a miracle draw would mean a very swift end to this duel in the very next turn…and not a particularly pleasant one, at that. Secure in his detailed knowledge of his old partner's deck, Bolger had played him for a fool and forced him to pool the entirety of his first-turn resources into two Synchro Monsters…both of which were now lying dormant in the Graveyard. Closing his eyes and concentrating very deeply on the defenseless kids for whom he was waging this mortal battle, the redheaded teenager grasped the top card of his Deck and shouted "Draw!" as hard and as desperately as he could.

…Then he opened his eyes, and his trademark smirk reappeared in full.

"I activate _Black Feather – Blackjack!_" he announced, sliding the Spell into the Graveyard and placing his eager hand to his Deck once more. "This allows me to send up to three cards from the top of my Deck to the Graveyard…and for every 'Black Feather' monster among them, I get to destroy a Spell or Trap Card on the field. Problem is, every Trap Card that goes to the Graveyard in this way hits me for 700 damage…so I guess we're about to see just how lucky this bird really is."

Holding his breath for a moment, Crow slashed the air to reveal…_Black Feather Beacon_, a Trap Card.

"Err…that's okay, that's okay," Crow recited, now sweating a little. "I can afford something like that, especially when my second draw is…"

"_Fake Feather_," Samuel Bolger read off in detached satisfaction. "Perhaps you should have edited Pearson's handiwork a bit more…judiciously. The man always did have more of a _flair_ for surprises and tricks than actual talent in implementing them…"

"Shut the fuck up!" yelled Crow, taking a few steps forward as his fists clenched tightly. "You don't deserve to even _mention_ him any longer, you got that? Now…let's do this, one last time!"

One final card was turned over and slipped into the Graveyard slot on the young Signer's Duel Disk…but this one possessed a rather distinctive orange border: _Black Feather – Vayu the Grand Flag_.

"Oh, _Hell_ yeah!" Crow exclaimed, waving a hand toward the sole Spell Card currently residing on Bolger's field and watching with glee as the hammer that had eradicated his recently acquired familiar was blown to dust. "And just the little birdie I was _hoping_ to see, too…'cause ya see, with _Vayu_ in the Graveyard I can now conduct a sweet little pseudo-Synchro-Summon straight _from_ there, removing from play both it and a non-Tuner of my choice in order to Special Summon a Synchro Monster with a Level that matches up to theirs. So goodbye _Vayu_ and _Black Feather – Armored Wing_, and now…_Black Feather – Lone Silver Wind_, come on down!"

"I am unimpressed, Crow Hogan," Bolger reacted dismissively as the mighty avian warrior appeared in a flurry of gale-force winds and unsheathed its lengthy katana. "If I am remembering that particular monster correctly – and I am certain that I am – the Synchro in question cannot even make use of its effects, so all you've really done is brought forth an aesthetically appealing brick wall."

"Perhaps, but without that Equip Spell on your side, that's really all I need to whoop your traitorous ass!" Crow countered heatedly, directing his hand forward. "_Lone Silver Wind_, attack his _Hail the Iron Hammer_! Bushido Cyclone!"

Like a dutiful samurai, _Lone Silver Wind_ immediately set into a battle stance at this command, before rapidly slicing the air with its katana, drawing up a great gust of wind with every new slash. Then, when a sufficiently powerful aura of supersonic air surrounded the creature, it burst forward, focusing all of that energy into one massive strike that tore the helmeted warrior clean in two. Grunting irritably as he took his first damage of the Duel, Bolger shot back, "So it appears that you have made a small comeback…but that means little. It is still only a short matter of time before I have ran you out of _all_ of Pearson's pathetic little birds, and now, I shall begin to prove it. My draw!"

Clearly possessing a particular strategy in mind from the onset, the former CEO barely even glanced at his new card before stating, "Now, I Normal Summon the Tuner Monster _White Warrior – Snow the Rope Dart_, as well as discard _White Warrior – Miasma the Hidden Gate_. By discarding _Miasma_ and selecting one monster the opponent controls that was previously Special Summoned, I can Special Summon 'White Warrior Tokens' in face-up Defense Position for every two Level-Stars' difference between the two monsters. _Miasma_ is Level 2 and _Lone Silver Wind_ is Level 8, so I am allowed to Summon three Tokens. And with that…the stage is finally set."

Accordingly, three clumps of what appeared to be concentrated, murky fog (each Level 2 and possessing 1000 ATK and DEF points) took their places beside the blue-robed warrior, which immediately began to transform its body into a series of verdant, glowing rings that surrounded two of the Tokens. _Snow_'s master, in the meantime, struck out his hand to a point just over Crow's shoulder and allowed the feather protruding from his chest to pulse, while a subtle prod from his own mystical mark provided the Signer with just enough warning to dodge to the side as a white piece of cardboard sailed through the air with the speed of a flying bullet and landed within the murderous brunette's outstretched fingers.

"One born from the darkness of the heart, come forth at the price of a good soul!" Bolger chanted, the violet light coursing through the feather expanding across the rest of his body until it appeared to engulf him completely. "Synchro Summon! Make this Signer bleed…_Blood Mephist!_"

Set against the backdrop of the towering flames that surrounded both duelists on all sides, the already rather-threatening Synchro Monster looked downright _demonic_ as he twirled onto the field with an ostentatious twirl of his gentlemanly cloak and a mad, wheezing cackle. The holographic stats-indicator that followed informed Crow that the monster who had been present to witness his mentor's final moments possessed precisely the same ATK points as his own eight-Star Synchro…but unlike him, Bolger still held one last card in reserve, and the curled lip the businessman was sporting – possibly the first expression even remotely resembling a smile Crow had seen across his visage all day – seemed to indicate that he was about to use it.

"I assure you that it has been quite…illuminating to reminisce with you, young Signer, but this is the end of your time on this mortal Earth," Bolger asserted, sliding one final Spell into the appropriate slot. "I activate _Rage of the White!_ With this, I can remove from play one 'White Warrior' in my Graveyard and one Synchro Monster in yours in order to increase my monster's ATK by that of the Synchro in question. So it appears that your _Blackfeather Dragon_ will indeed decide the outcome of this duel…but in _my_ favor. _Blood Mephist_, receive your rightful bounty!"

The demon tipped his top-hat to Crow's Graveyard as the spirit of his Signer Dragon was forcibly exorcised from it, its essence streaming into _Mephist_'s skull-tipped cane and empowering it with fully double the strength of _Lone Silver Wind_. And with no other cards on the field with the ability to affect the outcome, that meant that Bolger was one attack away from ending this duel and bringing a complete and unrelenting death to his younger opponent. Crow swallowed as he finally began to process what this meant – in the first great test of his worth to the Gods of justice and righteousness, in this fight to ensure the safety of his kids from the worst danger that had ever dared to threaten them…he had failed.

"Now _Blood Mephist_, take the victory you deserve! Take the victory _I_ deserve!" Bolger shrieked, his face again contorted with uncharacteristic fury.

But the creature did not move.

"…Well, what are you waiting for?" Bolger demanded. "Kill that monster, and kill the Signer! End this deathmatch swiftly, so that I might _finally_ be granted my blessed peace!"

"And why exactly should I listen to the likes of _you_, human?" bellowed a deep and innately sinister voice, and while the source wasn't immediately clear there was really only one being left in this abandoned warehouse capable of uttering it. But such a thing was _impossible_…wasn't it?

"But you're…you're just a hologram!" Bolger insisted, his eyes widening and his jaw clenching nervously. "You shouldn't be able to disobey me! I…I am your master, and you _will_ do as I command! Destroy _Lone Silver Wind_, immediately!"

_Blood Mephist_'s response to these increasingly frenetic assertions was to begin laughing uproariously, before casually forming a fireball in its right hand and hurling it at a section of the ceiling, which burst apart and forced Bolger to back away so as to avoid the falling debris. "You still believe me to be nothing but a simple _hologram?_" it asked incredulously, still guffawing maniacally in between sentences. "Even after you witnessed me using my very, _very _real powers to murder a fellow human, directly before your eyes? The late Seto Kaiba's Solid Vision technology was an…impressive achievement by mortal standards, but it is still nowhere near _that_ potent."

"Hey, hey, hold the phone!" cried out Crow Hogan, his own eyes now burning with indignant wrath at this latest revelation. "Are you fucking telling me that _you_ were the weapon he used to kill Pearson?"

"Oh yes…and what a _fine_ death it was, too!" the monster claimed with a sadistic relish. "I can still remember that poor, defenseless human, gasping desperately for air in the wake of the pungent smoke as rubble from my assault crushed his bones and prevented his escape. I've slaughtered quite a few mortals over the years, don't get me wrong…but your 'Robert Pearson' was easily one of the most _fun._"

"You…you sick _bastard!_" Crow screamed, leaping over to sock the demon in the gut but receiving a targeted blast of dark fire in response, which sent him hurtling to the ground in a coughing heap. Clutching his chest and attempting to reassert control over his damaged lungs, the orange-haired Signer decided that this creature _definitely_ wasn't exaggerating about its powers.

"So then…what exactly _are_ you?" called out Bolger, still feeling rather off-put by the fact that his ace monster had just up-and-decided to ignore the ongoing duel and hold conversations with the active players. "I thought that you were just a KaibaCorp experiment!"

"The man who allowed you to 'steal' me certainly wanted you to _think_ that," Blood Mephist instructed him, twirling its cane and grinning with satisfaction as the spirit of _Blackfeather Dragon_ trapped within screeched piercingly with each rotation. "After all, were you to know the truth, you would never have come anywhere _near_ me, and the destiny of the Signer Crow Hogan would never have been properly written."

Now hovering to the center of the field, away from either player's side and set quite firmly apart from the rest of the cards in play, it went on, "I am a Card of Darkness…a pure concentration of an essence far greater than your feeble mortal minds could _possibly_ comprehend. I am ordained with the very powers of God – or at least, _a_ God – himself…and like the fool you are, you have just decided to bring forth my most illustrious self in a circle empowered by the pure energy of a Jibakushin. I should have thought, after witnessing your 'Master' blown across the room for idiotically attempting to undo a decades-strong Penalty Game, that you would think twice about mixing magicks to such a degree as this."

"I…I don't understand…" Bolger murmured, now looking quite defeated. He had been so close…_so close_…

"Of _course_ you don't understand…the fact that you humans so rarely _do_ is one of the reasons I possess such a thorough distaste for you as a species," Mephist retorted scornfully. "But to put this into terms even _you_ can comprehend, the force that gives me a life beyond that flimsy piece of cardboard you hold and the force that is perpetuating this Yami no Duel are entirely incompatible; I could not move to complete your pathetic little game even if I wanted to. So instead, as a rightful punishment for your wanton and pitiable ignorance…I think I'll leave you both with a parting gift."

And with that, Blood Mephist's eyes glowed bright with a devilish scarlet, and in the next moment it was vomiting profusely over Bolger, a Hellish black sludge erupting from its throat and splattering all over the former CEO. And indeed, true to its word, the feather jammed into Bolger's ribcage did not appear to like exposure to the monster's essence one bit, first beginning to hum and then rattle violently, until the otherworldly energy housed within it peaked to a breaking point and then beyond it, resulting in a blinding explosion that encompassed the entire warehouse. Several seconds later, the smoke cleared…and each and every being or object, from Samuel Bolger to Blood Mephist to the circle of violet flames and the holograms housed within its walls, was gone.

…Only Crow Hogan, completely comatose and muttering a string of anxious, incoherent babble about the fate of his children, remained.

[-]

"Oh, now that _really_ wasn't smart," remarked a man bedecked in white, as he finished "relocating" Samuel Bolger's unconscious body to a comparatively safer location, picking up the once-again dormant form of _Blood Mephist_ as he did.

"Mixing some of dear Placido's handiwork with an Underworld geoglyph…very bad medicine indeed," he continued to murmur to no one in particular. "And…_ah,_ I haven't seen this little demon since I last paid visit to the Emperors three years ago…not that they knew who I was, of course. None of them ever do."

Now passing a hand over the Synchro Monster, black vapor flowing out of its borders and being supplanted by an equally strong white, the gentleman whose face was perpetually hidden from view curled his lips and spoke, "But enough waxing nostalgic. Here, my dear pawn – this should be enough to prevent another…incident like today's. And, as an added little bonus, give me another 'agent' to keep watch over affairs here; one can _never_ have too many contingencies, after all."

At this Samuel Bolger began to utter some slurred and blathering drivel as his head lolled to the side, though his eyes remained closed. Knowing that he was on a rather tight schedule and not wanting to add an unnecessarily lengthy memory-removal session to his immediate itinerary, the man in the white tuxedo stood back up to his fullest, snapping his fingers and saying to the slowly rousing businessman, "You will not remember what happened when you played _Blood Mephist_ this day. You will keep _Blood Mephist_ by your side at all times. And if and when _Blood Mephist_ next speaks to you…you will be prepared to listen. Goodbye, Samuel Bolger."

Then a great white light filled this dank and decrepit alleyway, leaving nothing behind but a distinct and overpowering smell of sulfur.

[-]

…The man in white, meanwhile, stepped out of the dimensional fold half a world away, dusting imaginary grime from his crisp suit and beginning to trot across the desert sands of Nazca, Peru. This was an errand he had been meaning to attend to for nearly forty-eight hours…but what was time to a being such as him, really?

There were human children playing very close by, judging by the sounds of unrestrained joy and mirth drifting over into his immediate purview – the village that housed the last descendants of the People of the Stars, no doubt. Of course, having not directly revealed himself to them, they were utterly ignorant of his presence…and the man in white intended to keep it that way. Oh, it would be _so_ easy to slaughter the entire tribe, and _so_ satisfying as well; all it would take was a single glare. But business needed to come before pleasure, and in any event, exposing his form to these unenlightened masses on such an essential mission seemed rather imprudent.

Besides, that was not how these brats' fates had been writ. He would not kill them all this day because he _did_ not kill them all this day…that was the very nature of the timestream, after all.

Even now, the very, _very_ small part of him that was still even tenuously human occasionally marveled at the novelty of perceiving time from a nonlinear perspective. Every single event he had ever experienced – or _would_ ever experience – played across his mind in a simultaneous procession; past, present, and future running alongside each other as he bore witness to every one of them across every point of his nigh-eternal existence.

…Events such as Yusei Fudo thwarting the plot of his greatest and most valuable patsy, the researcher-turned-God known as "Z-ONE," and subsequently derailing two full _timelines'_ worth of work on his part.

Oh yes, Yusei Fudo…the third mortal on this primitive, backwater planet to show up in the space of only thirty years whose destiny was blocked from his otherwise-infallible sight, following _right_ in the footsteps of the equally annoying Yugi Muto and Judai Yuki. All that effort expended to facilitate the rebellion of the Kikoutei and manipulate Z-ONE into dropping the Arc Cradle, unwittingly setting into motion the process that would finally bring an end to this irrevocably chaotic Multiverse…all of it, negated in an _instant_ by a single teenaged human armed with a flying motorcycle. And with the Arc Cradle obliterated in the course of Z-ONE's last-minute change of heart, salvaging either that or Z-ONE's original timeline was impossible…which necessitated a far more radical change in strategy.

Fortunately, with the Planetary Particle-manipulator known to the mortals as "Infinity" under his indirect command, he effectively possessed unlimited chances for getting his eons-old mission "done right."

Given how…compelling his voice was known to be, it hadn't taken more than a moment or two for the man in white to convince that egomaniacal blowhard Clark Smith that using Infinity for the unbelievably petty task of tightening his jacket would be quite a good idea, the ultimate result being that the Dark Signers were sticking around in this particular reality for far longer than they had in any other he had previously bothered to observe.

It was a risky gambit, to be sure…or at least it would have been, for any being _not_ in possession of all the answers that absolute knowledge of the future provided. With allowances for the holes in the grand tapestry of fate that Yusei's unknowable course produced, the man in white was perfectly aware of how these events were prepared to play out in the coming days, weeks, and months…and all signs pointed to the obliteration of all existence as the most likely result. But first…first, he would need to begin acting upon a few of these scrambling pawns directly. Within this particular timeline, ensuring its existence by "influencing" Clark Smith and then planting a small portion of his essence upon Samuel Bolger had been the first steps he had taken in this direction since appearing to both Goodwin brothers all those years ago and setting them upon their proper paths.

What he was _here_ to do, in the midst of this small legion of dormant but exceedingly agitated Jibakushin, was the next.

Stepping straight past the intricate carving of an enormous serpent atop the Nazcan sands, the man in white waved his hand across a virtually indistinguishable stretch of desert and sent the granules flying off of the concealed entrance to the Earthbound God Asiru Amaru's underground burial chambers…rendered mystically impossible to find if one wasn't already looking for it. If he recalled correctly – and of course, he _did_ – the mortal known as 'Bommer' was fated to mark this spot with a temple of appeasement sometime shortly following his resurrection, but for obvious reasons that destiny no longer applied to this current reality. It was no matter, in any event…after all, no one else would _need_ to find these chambers in the future, should everything continue to proceed according to plan.

The stairway down into the depths that bordered the very edge of the Underworld was long, and it was dark…but of course, it wasn't like _he_ of all entities had any problem perceiving his surroundings as the barriers of the physical plane faded around him, eventually leading to a near-infinite stretch of bare blackness, one singular pyre of blinding-hot flame lying dead at the center. Smiling slightly, the man in white approached it.

"Who dares to disturb the resting place of the Crimson Devil?" uttered a high-pitched voice from within the fire, sounding simultaneously enraged and intensely curious.

"A friend to your Lord and Master's cause, most honorable Familiar," the man in white answered, a low glint alight in his unseen eyes. "I have come to bear Him information that I believe He shall find quite…worthwhile."

"Oh, really? A mere mortal in a suit thinks that he has something to offer to the very God of Evil?" the voice questioned with a simpering giggle, escalating in both volume and intensity as the pyre expanded into the form of a slender imp, whose laughter reached a fever pitch as he examined the being who had come to meet him on this verboten plane. "But no…you _aren't_ any mere mortal, are you? I'm not entirely sure _what_ you are, but a normal human could not have found this place without my express guidance. It is simply not possible."

"You are correct about that, in broad-strokes at least…but my identity is immaterial to this subject, I assure you," the man in white insisted dismissively. "So might I be granted permission to share my knowledge with you, oh Familiar of the mighty Scar-Red Nova?"

"Urgh…very well, then," the Familiar acceded after a few moments of internal consideration and external grumbling. "It's not like We tend to receive very many visitors down here, anyway. Even my Master's…'younger siblings,' as it were…haven't bothered to send back word now that They've gotten all uppity and taken on human avatars. I'm afraid the life of a demon just isn't all that _interesting_ without the occasional mortal coming around to trick out of their soul."

"That was precisely what I wished to parlay with your Master about, actually…although as His sole representative, I suppose that you shall suffice," the man in white replied. "For as you well know, unlike Wiraqocha Rasca and Their ilk, the Crimson Devil has proven unable to rise again in this Second Coming by possessing a human corpse and generating a Dark Signer…"

"That is the fault of the humans, and _not_ that of my Master," the Familiar cut across him, looking rather incensed. "Over the years since Uru first gave the process a shot, Scar-Red Nova has offered the same bargain to _dozens_ of departed souls…but not a single one has managed to survive the process of becoming His emissary. There was this one chap a few years back who had apparently been swimming around the limbo between life-and-death for a full couple decades – went by the name of 'Gozaburou' something-or-other, I think – who was supposedly some bigshot by mortal standards; nearly ended the human race at least once. And y'know what? That guy lasted _three seconds_ before what was left of his soul was shredded into nothing."

"I am quite thoroughly aware of this shortage of…adequate hosts," the man in white informed the imp. "But that will not be an issue with the man I wish to suggest to you now; I promise you that."

"Well, with _that_ kind of 'recommendation,' I suppose I have no choice but to inquire further," the Familiar responded, his blazing eyebrows rising with intrigue. "Do go on, then…what is this man's name?"

"His true name has been lost forever to the brutal streets of Neo Domino, Japan…I don't believe that even _he_ remembers it any longer," stated the man in white. "If it was truly necessary, it would be a fairly simple matter for me to unearth it, but there will be no need for that; the name your Master will need to hunt down his wicked spirit in the fetid depths of the Underworld is the same as the moniker he bestowed upon himself across his entire adult life…_Divine_."

"'Divine'? Bit of an ego on _that_ one, I'm guessing," the Familiar sneered, licking his protruding fang with interest. "Not that that's necessarily a _bad_ quality for an avatar intending to house the almighty essence of Asiru Amaru, of course. But what makes you think that his…conversion would go any better than the others'?"

In answer, the man in white simply waved his hand across the dank air, leaving traces of white mist within which various scenes of the late Arcadia Movement leader's depraved actions played for the fire-demon to witness in reluctant awe. "Not only was Divine easily one of the most wicked individuals across modern human history, his innumerous sins writ large in the form of bloodstains soiling the very tapestry of fate…but he was also the second-most powerful psychic ever alive, surpassed only by the Signer Aki Izayoi," he explained. "His own inherent mental powers shall, I believe, allow him to survive the excruciating agony of possession by the Guren no Akuma with his mind and soul – damaged as both are by his horrific crimes – intact. Not to mention provide a strong baseline for your Master to build upon in expanding his abilities, should said possession go over successfully."

"I will…take this under advisement, then," said the Familiar after a moment's pause, looking somewhat dubious. "But one question still remains: _why_ would you share something like this with Us?"

One thing the man in white prided himself upon was how infrequently he had to outright _lie_ to manipulate every being he encountered, from humans to cyborgs to demons to veritable _Gods_, into performing his bidding. The truth, framed in just the right way, was simply so much more potent in cajoling weaker minds than his own (which, in the countless eons that he had been in existence, had seemed to be more-or-less all of them) toward the path of enlightenment.

As such, the man in white answered delicately, "As you may or may not be aware, only Aslla piscu's and Wiraqocha Rasca's hosts remain active within this mortal coil. The condor's avatar is a former Signer, one 'Jack Atlas'…and he has awakened the King of the Underworld under his command, using Its unmatched might to lay waste to the Earth and declare himself its undisputed monarch. But in order to accomplish this, he first moved to murder Divine…the man responsible, albeit somewhat indirectly, for the awakening of both Aslla piscu's and Ccarayhua's destined emissaries. For this reason, Divine's spirit is unlikely to feel any more charitable toward the King's second round of 'offspring' than your Master does. And through their intervention, the Dark King's reign of terror shall end once and for all…and the Crimson Devil's shall commence in its place.

"So in short, I offer both you and the First Jibakushin this wonderful opportunity for one sole purpose: because I am, as you so perceptively surmised, not a human myself, and therefore have decided that the time has finally come for the Earthly realm to be wrested from their incompetent control," the man in white concluded, small lights beneath the perpetual veil that blanketed his upper face flashing as the rest of his body began to fade into white vapor once more. "And based on track-records, I have determined that your Master is the most worthy deity to affect this cosmological revolution. And with that said, I bid you farewell, Familiar of the Scar-Red Nova…and express my hope that He shall consider my proposal with interest."

And with that, the burial chamber of Asiru Amaru was emptied of its first visitor in several millennia once more, nothing left but a rather confused-looking demon and the heavy scent of sulfur.

[-]

A/N: Ooh, this was definitely a fun one. Finals season slowed my progress on this baby to a crawl for a good couple of weeks, but I seem to have made up the time fairly well via the beginning ides of summer break. Fortunately, the position I recently took up – an internship in the office of the Governor of Hawai'i – is only part-time and fairly easy to work my writing schedule around, so y'all should be expecting lots more material out of me in the coming months! :D

Of course, since the publication of Chapter 13 we have all had to deal with the rather game-changing shift of "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's" wrapping up for good (the short version of my opinion on the finale is that it was _excellent_ apart from a handful of Fridge Logic-y loose-ends, most principally the way that it handled the Carly/Jack dynamic, which was a cop-out and just generally infuriating) and "Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal" starting up in its place.

Personally, I haven't seen a lick of the new series since Episode 3 and have absolutely no desire to continue, so if anyone happens to be wondering, ZeXal is _not_ currently considered canon in the "My Dark King" Universe. It _does_ remain part of the timeline prior to the man in white's interference, but the change affected by Infinity that sparked the creation of this Alternate Universe in the first place also erased ZeXal's setting from that particular Universe's future. So to preempt any potential questions on the subject, no, neither Yuma nor Astral nor any of the other characters from the fourth Yu-Gi-Oh! series will be making any appearances in this fic.

Of course, if anything regarding the metaphysics/cosmology of the "My Dark King" Universe that was revealed in this chapter remains unclear to any of you, feel free to send along a PM and I'll do my best to explain the admittedly somewhat esoteric concepts in fuller detail. But if it helps any of you and you happen to get the reference, when thinking of how the man in white (who is, indeed, the Big Bad of this story in broadest strokes) perceives the timestream and the Universe in general, try and think of _Watchmen_'s Doctor Manhattan.

And now, 'tis that most hallowed of Author's Note sections: the reviewer shout-out jamboree! Eleven reviews came out this time around, and so I would like to extend many thanks to HK, WhiteAsukaLover, KaliAnn, JillRG, Xoroth, Tsukirie, Alicia, Sara Crewe, Zaconator and Zackis, Endless Strategy Games, and mitzirocker. Since rewards like cookies or puppies became clichés _years_ ago, I offer y'all in gratitude a great big carton of kung-fu radishes. Use them well.

Anyway, moving on to a few more specific responses…

**JillRG:** Well, far be it from me to encourage someone to relapse back toward an addiction…but just between you and me, I fully encourage you to relapse back toward your addiction. ;P

Seriously though, Viewtiful Jeff's wonderful TV Tropes page for this story (a link to which can be found, for those who haven't yet seen it, both in Chapter 13's Author's Note and my profile on this site) most definitely Needs More Love, and there are no words to describe the amount of appreciation I would feel to you or any other Tropers out in my readership who are willing to take some time out of their day to touch it up with more Tropes, WMGs, Headscratchers, Crowning Moments, etc. Trust me when I say that I shall read _everything_ posted on that page…multiple times. XD

Now, as for the non-TV-Tropes-related matters…there are two main reasons why I have not reclassified this story as a GX/5D's crossover. First, on a purely pragmatic note, crossovers are typically rather harder to find and thus get a lower readership level on the whole compared to main-fandom fics here…and considering that said readership has _already_ been steadily declining for the past year or so, I can't really afford to risk such an additional loss, LOL.

The other, more story-related reason is that I don't necessarily see the remainder of the GX cast as "equal" in importance to the 5D's cast…at least at the moment (the eventual sequel will probably be split up far more evenly). So far as Judai at least is concerned, this is ultimately the Signers' fight, and the majority of the story's focus shall continue to focus on their efforts in waging it. But just because the torch has been passed to the next generation doesn't necessarily mean that the old one is out of the game for good, and _that_ is the dynamic that I am attempting to explore with Judai's newly reformed group.

**Tsukirie:** Once again, _merci beaucoup_ for plugging this fic on your LiveJournal. Stumbling across the entry while roving about Google was definitely an excellent surprise, and I highly appreciated the kind words, both there and in this review.

**Sara Crewe: **Well, you _could_ tell that to your optometrist…but then they might advise you against reading this story further, and that would make me all sad and stuffs. You don't want to make me all sad and stuffs, do you dear? ;3

Seriously though, I wish you the greatest of luck on the journey you are undertaking today, and bid you the most heartfelt expression of my love to you as you head on down to San Diego. It's been a wonderful ride with you over the past thirteen-going-on-fourteen months, and I'm looking forward to as many as humanly possible in the future. I love you so much, hon, and hope that you enjoy reading this latest massive eyesore in the coming days. ;D

**Zaconator and Zackis:** Well, I called that "twist" _long_ before it was actually revealed in the show, but that doesn't mean I was particularly pleased with it, considering the sheer amount of potential drama and human resonance the turnaround ultimately avoided. But this is only one of the many, _many_ great story opportunities that Yoshida and the other writers for the last half of 5D's completely dropped the ball on, of course…

On the bright side, however, this little "revelation" allowed Z-ONE to play a _much_ cleaner role in this fic than he would have had he turned out to be an aged Yusei after all – just another patsy, albeit an exceedingly powerful and ambitious one, for the enigmatic man in white.

At very least, I believe the last bits of the Arc Cradle arc have allowed me to form a consistent, all-encompassing cosmology for the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe that is finally, _finally_ immune to Jossing, and I greatly look forward to exploring it more fully as this story progresses.

**Endless Strategy Games:** …Wow, that's some _damn_ fine praise. I mean…holy crap. My utmost thanks, and please, don't apologize; the longer and more in-depth a review is, the more I enjoy reading it initially, and the more likely I am to revisit it when I need to be reminded just how great my fans are so as to encourage my creativity. As such, if you still have any thoughts left from your long-form review that didn't make it here, feel free to share them in either another review or via PM. I'd absolutely love to hear them. :)

Now, as for your two continuity questions…in my mind, Leo returned to Neo Domino City at the same time in _both_ timelines, but in the main one he had to wait until the completion of the New Daedalus Bridge in order to actually charter a trip over to the Satellite. I picture him having spent the intervening six months' in the main Universe honing the practical end of his skills to earn some quick cash (since he was likely dirt-poor across most of his global studies), until the Satellite finally opened up to city visitors and he made his way over for the events of Episode 85 to unfold.

And on the subject of the King of the Underworld…one thing you should keep in mind is that the Savior Dragons are one of the Akaki Ryu's disciples briefly channeling _all_ of its power, and as a singular being the Crimson Dragon possesses far more raw power than Thor, Loki, _or_ Odin. Individually, each of the Polar Gods is more-or-less equal in strength to the Signer Dragons (Odin being just one step above the others), so while they can certainly _harm_ the King of the Underworld quite easily, they don't quite yet have the might necessary to kill it outright. The _entire_ Æsir working in commune would probably be capable of such a feat, but as many of them (Baldr and Tyr, for example) are now deceased, the King won't be going down so easily against our Norwegian friends.

**mitzirocker:** Again, the high praise is exceedingly well-appreciated. Although I must say, I'm afraid I've never been much of a Whovian, so any similarities between the Doctor and Judai in this story are purely coincidental. Based on what little I know of the show, however, I can definitely see where the comparison springs from.

Now, with regards to your criticism toward my heavy reliance on backstory as a storytelling device…well, I'm afraid I can't really agree, mostly by virtue of the fact that writing backstories is freaking _fun_, LOL. But in all seriousness, there are simply some pieces of information that I feel are better conveyed by reaching directly into a character's mind and culling through their personal history, so I don't intend to let up on doing so in the future wherever I deem it useful and appropriate. Trying to maintain story flow _is_ a significant concern of mine, however, which is why I usually have any backstories placed at the beginning of a given "section," rather than directly interrupting the action.

And finally, on the subject of an autograph…well, send me along something to sign, and sure, I'd be more than happy to oblige. XD

[-]

The first gauntlet in these grand battles of dark versus light and Light versus Dark has finally been thrown, and the seeds sown by their forces' initial confrontations may well turn out to spell doom, not just for this now-Hellish Earth, but for a far grander cosmos as well. The scattered pieces of the rebellion ready to fight the good fight to its ultimate end have never been so close to unifying, but it will take the personal sojourns of heroes and heroines the Universe over to bring that vision to fruition before the clock runs out for good on Neo Domino City. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 15: _Reflections_.

– Masterdramon


	15. Reflections

**My Dark King – Chapter 15: Reflections**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

_Progress report._

A somewhat curious side-effect of administering the feathers of their shared Master to his fellow Children appeared to be that the Reaper was keyed, at least to a certain degree, into each of their minds…but the Master had ordered him to assist with their various missions wherever possible, after all, so he supposed that this could only be a useful development.

"Scheiße, Herr Reaper…we're sorta _busy_ at the moment," responded Nicolas Verbrechen irritably, slapping the side of his head as if hoping that that would be sufficient to dislodge the cloaked figure's soft voice from his brain. "Can't we handle this later?"

"Don't mind that cabrón, sir," Barbara Vasquez cut in, cracking her whip mostly just for lack of anything else to do with her hands. "Suffice it to say, though, that we have located an organized pocket of resistance in the eastern sector of the city, and per orders we are eliminating it. This shouldn't take too long; we've gathered a good hundred or so servants for this mission, and besides, I can guarantee that _none_ of these worms are any sort of notable threat. They should all be dead by midnight…at latest."

_No Signers, then?_

"_Fuck_ no…just a whole bunch of worthless nothings and nobodies," Nicolas stated smugly. "From the glance I got of 'em when they captured one of our zombie-things, it looks like the most important guys involved are those gay-ass pro-duelists Team Unicorn. Hardly the most vital of targets, as I'm sure you'll agree."

_Most likely, yes…but we must be sure. I find this endeavor you describe to be somewhat puzzling; perhaps, troublesomely so. Capture these resistance fighters alive, if possible – I want to leave our Master the option of interrogating them if he so wishes._

"Well, I guess you're the boss," Nicolas sighed, reaching into his pocket and thumbing through his grimy, slightly alcohol-stained Duel Monsters cards. If he was going to be forced to take in these arschlochs _without_ lethal force, then it was a fairly safe bet that he was going to be needing them.

_Now, moving on. Clark Smith, how goes _your_ latest operations?_

"Oh, very well I suppose, Reaper," Clark answered distractedly, his attentions mainly focused upon the various knobs and switches that he was carefully adjusting. "The Dark King has asked for me to oversee his newest project: the instigation of a second Zero Reverse-level event, using Neo Domino City's central Momentum reactor. Current testing indicates that it should be ready to go in approximately forty-five hours."

_What an…intriguing development. Did the Master mention his reasons for executing such a stratagem?_

"What does it matter? The Dark King's word is law, whether or not he chooses to share his plans with his lowly disciples," Clark shot back sternly. "But, since you asked…I believe he mentioned to his Queen that this new blast will free the Earthbound Gods who were not turned loose by the first. With their power added to the Master's own, this meager planet should be under his proverbial thumb by the end of the week."

_Well, I'm glad to see that _someone_ has their act pulled together, so to speak. Carry on with your current efforts, then…and now, Professor Frank Adler, I would like to hear from _you.

"Long story, _irritating_ story, story that I don't have the fucking time to sit down and share at the moment; pick your poison, Reaper," Professor Frank snarled, now rushing about the streets of Satellite as the last vestiges of his recent bullet wound sealed up. "All I'm going to say is that that 'Player Killer' psychopath was a piss-poor choice for receiving the Master's feather; the moment he sighted the non-Signers he _really_ carried a vendetta against, he usurped my one-time portal to the Spirit World, turned tail, and escaped like a filthy coward into the Ice Boundary. And over _what?_ A fucking handgun!"

What? _I…I expected better from him. But your story must be true; I cannot sense the Player Killer of Darkness anywhere upon this mortal plane. All the same…has this unforeseen complication hindered your own mission at all?_

"Somewhat, but not greatly," Frank Adler told him tersely, now kicking down the doors of a few shanty dwellings to see if the blue-haired bitch and her temporarily adopted brood were hiding there. "Alongside Bolger – he can give you the full details of the arrangement, I suppose – I blackmailed one of the non-Signers in question into leading me straight to the Signer runt Ruka, but just moments ago she betrayed me and shot me point-blank with a _literal_ Chekhov's gun. Now I am in the process of tracking that wench down…and I promise you, she _will_ ensure that I am able to complete the task set for me by the Dark King. Whether _she_ will survive this night or else share the same fate as the Signer she protects, however, remains an open question."

_That is an…encouraging attitude, if nothing else. And per your suggestion, that leaves only Samuel Bolger. How goes the hunt for the Signer Crow Hogan?_

But while Bolger's mental signature was, unlike the Player Killer's, unquestionably present within the limits of Satellite, the former CEO made no attempt to respond. Finding this contradiction mildly curious, the Reaper wrapped his cloak tight around his squat form and teleported straight to Samuel Bolger's present location, where the bespectacled Child of the Feather was only just beginning to rouse.

_What has happened here? Professor Frank Adler mentioned something about an "arrangement" reached between the two of you and multiple non-Signers…but I sense no other human presence in this immediate area._

Groggily, Bolger groaned slightly before turning to regard his superior with a cold, businesslike stare. "I…I was dueling the Signer Crow Hogan just moments ago," he murmured, holding his head. "And victory was within striking distance, of _that_ I am certain…but I cannot remember a single thing after that moment."

_Where was this duel taking place?_

"It was…a warehouse, I think…" Bolger attempted to piece-out aloud. "Good _Lord_, why does it feel like my skull is cracking in two…?"

_I am reading your skeletal and muscular structures now, Samuel Bolger. Physically, you are perfectly well._

"Am I? So strange…" Bolger mused, sounding genuinely mystified. "But…no matter. A few things are starting to come back to me; I don't believe we are far from it."

_Then lead the way._

That they were currently located somewhere in the Satellite's warehouse district – and therefore looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack – was not exactly helping matters, but Bolger was fairly sure that Crow Hogan and the non-Signers had carved a gaping hole in one of the walls of the battleground in question, so they at least had something decently distinctive to go upon. Still, many minutes of fruitless searching passed before Bolger inadvertently tripped over a lumpy mound of greenish flesh, his brow furrowing in annoyance as he wiped the gunk from his slacks.

"Hmm…looks like the trampled remains of one of our Master's undead wraiths," Bolger observed, stepping back over the corpse of the fallen foot-soldier. "My guess is that it got caught up in the shuffle of its fellows once Frank and I dismissed them from the warehouse…which means we must be getting close."

_There, perhaps?_

Bolger followed the path of the Reaper's finger and raised an eyebrow, before cocking a small smile. "Yes, that is _precisely_ it," he affirmed coolly, now walking purposefully toward the gaping crevice in the rusted steel. "Now, I don't really expect Crow Hogan to have lingered, but it certainly can't hurt to check…"

And indeed it had not…for when the Reaper followed his compatriot into the aged warehouse a moment later, his senses were greeted by the sight of the wielder of the Crimson Dragon's wings, his singular form breathing heavily and shuddering as he lay unconscious upon the cold ground.

[-]

For the fifteen years or so that Yusei Fudo had been old enough to be cognizant of other people's opinions toward him, he was quite thoroughly aware that he had picked up the reputation of the "quiet stoic." Even as young kids, his taciturn broodiness had always contrasted starkly from Crow's jovial bombasticism or Jack's haughty arrogance, as well as helped anchor the two to Earth in their more…excessive moments. Everyone in Martha's orphanage grew up knowing that, while Crow Hogan was the guy you went to for a hilarious joke and Jack Atlas the one for staring down the bully who had stolen your stuff, Yusei could always be counted on to provide sage advice and a neutral perspective, always with that unflappable expression of perfect calmness.

As such, the fact that he was currently, as Crow would've described it, "going apeshit" served as a vivid sign of how utterly fucked the situation had gotten in the past few minutes.

Ambling around the general area and screaming incoherently to the heavens, stranded and alone without any method of communication or transport, Yusei at least still had the presence of mind to recognize that panicking was not going to help Aki's current predicament in any way…but getting back into a remotely rational mindstate was easier said than done, of course.

Punching a nearby wall with full force and grimacing at the pain, Yusei caught a glimpse of the dragon's head upon his forearm, and in desperation began striking his palm across it with greater and greater force, until the skin surrounding the mark began to grow red and raw from the stinging blows. He knew, of course, that the teleportation ability his father's spirit had endowed him with had long since worn off…but he had no other options, knowing as he did that Aki could well be getting tortured to death at this very moment.

That Carly Nagisa woman, he reflected briefly, was still for the most part an enigma to him, but the one thing he _did_ know was that her level of competence was beyond terrifying. No other Dark Signer, after all, had managed to _win_ their final bout with the forces of the Akaki Ryu – even Demak and Bommer, who had spent most of their respective duels facing off against non-Signers, had failed to achieve such a feat.

But _this_ dainty young lady, a reporter from the countryside with no great history or standing, had somehow managed to defeat the King of Riding Duels himself…and so while he was quite confident in Aki's abilities for the most part, he nevertheless couldn't ignore the sheer scope of the danger she was in.

Partly, at least, he felt quite guilty for letting it all come to this; the female Dark Signer had utilized the teleportation signal that Judai-san had left for _him_, after all, meaning that none of this would have happened if he'd simply done a better job of figuring out the trigger the older gentleman had set upon it. Instead of protecting and uniting the Signers, as destiny had apparently decreed his duty to be, this whole bungled mission seemed to have succeeded only in further splintering the bonds he had _just_ managed to erect prior to leaving Goodwin's mansion.

What with the whole affair with that Misty woman – which, Yusei belatedly realized, he hadn't even _attempted_ to comfort Aki about, selfishly caught up as he had been in his own funk – the young psychic was probably worse-off now, mentally and emotionally speaking, than she had ever been since leaving Arcadia.

No…not a _single_ spoken word had he shared directly with her since that dreadful evening at the abandoned amusement park, where Divine had done all he possibly could to unravel the progress she had made across the last few months. She had been forced into committing _murder_, and he – the man with the audacity to call himself her friend, especially for a girl whose life had blessed her with so very few – had stood by and done nothing. Instead, he had gone off gallivanting with spirits, demigods, and the Dark King himself, barely sparing a single thought to the team he had left behind…until now, when their very _lives_ were threatened.

And the revelation that Jack had tacked on near the end of their dialogue only compounded his guilt. Was he really _that_ clueless, for Jack of all people to have noticed Aki's feelings and for him to have remained oblivious? It made some sense, he supposed, given what had transpired between them in the last few months, but he had never really dealt with a young woman thinking of him in…_that_ way before, and the implications made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. But for now, all it really meant was that there was yet _another_ way in which he was letting Aki down, and for which she was very likely now paying with her life.

"_Arghhhhhh!_" Yusei bellowed, squeezing his birthmark as hard as he possibly could; unfortunately, this approach remained just as effective as it had a few minutes ago. But without either his Signer powers or a vehicle of some sort to aid him, there was simply nothing he could do from here – he barely knew anything at all of the streets of Neo Domino, and even less about this particular portion of it. And Hell, even if he _did_ manage to get back into the Satellite somehow, he still didn't have the first clue where to start looking, what with Martha and company having apparently evacuated to whereabouts unknown.

Suddenly feeling rather weak at the knees (he suspected that his recent lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him, if nothing else), Yusei released his grip upon his forearm and slunk back against a partially collapsed wall, exhaling with a noise that was halfway between a sigh and a sob. First, losing Sherry and Mizoguchi-san – and _Z-One_ with them – somewhere back on the island, then managing to provide Judai-san with absolutely no assistance whatsoever in rescuing his own friends, _then_ categorically failing at what might well have been his last opportunity to get through to Jack, and finally _this_…

Yusei would never be quite sure, even a few days later, just how long he spent leaning slumped across that dilapidated wall, nor whether or not he was ever actually moved to tears while he did so. But as the sense of hopeless despondency kicked in, every moment seemed magnified into hours, and it certainly felt that way as Yusei made his silent, distant plea to Aki to forgive him for failing her as well.

As such, it was took quite a bit of time for the Signer leader to actively recognize the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle approaching his location.

"What the…?" Yusei whispered to himself, moving outward a bit until a rather garish blue, white, and orange D-Wheel came into view, a muscular figure set astride it with the demeanor of a professional. The skidding stop, necessary to avoid the numerous obstacles now strewing the road, was pulled off flawlessly as well, and was followed swiftly by the rider pulling off his helmet and revealing the signature pointed-blue hair of Jin Himuro.

"Thank God I finally found you, Yusei!" he exclaimed urgently. "I need your help to…err, is this a bad time?"

Figuring that his unexpectedly arriving friend had noticed the signs of his brief breakdown, Yusei wiped his eyes with his sleeve and responded, "No, Himuro…it's not a bad time at all. Assuming, at least, that you can take me someplace where I can get transport to Satellite."

"Well…I dunno, I _guess_ my new team might be able to swing something like that," said Himuro, seeming rather bewildered at the request. "But why do you…?"

"No time to explain," Yusei cut across him, putting on his own helmet as a kernel of renewed hope began to burst to life within his heart. "Let's get going; we can _both_ explain things on the way."

[-]

Whatever was in this salve that Maihime had provided him, Tetsu Ushio was quite certain that they needed a good few million tubs of it back on Earth.

What had been easily the _worst_ fever Ushio had ever experienced (well, while sober at least) just a few minutes ago had now cleared up completely, and even the bruising from where he had collapsed into the snowbanks appeared to be rapidly fading away. As if answering his unspoken question, the self-proclaimed Dance Princess informed him, "This is Granadora mucus, my human friend. The properties of the substance are really quite fascinating, you know; taken from the lizard-creature while it is deceased yields a deadly toxin, whereas it vastly _increases_ vitality if extracted from a living specimen. So curious, the natural world…don't you agree?"

"Well, if I'm where I think I am, I expect that your wildlife is a _tad_ more fascinating than mine," Ushio remarked, now beginning to pull his uniform back on; so soon after finally gaining his first girlfriend in decades, he figured it wasn't a good idea to show off his shirtless torso to any other attractive women for longer than was strictly necessary. "So, can _you_ confirm my suspicions – is this that weird 'Spirit World' place that Rua and Ruka-chan keep going on about?"

"As Kekkitai mentioned, this is indeed one of the Twelve Dimensions that make up the Duel Monsters Spirit World – namely, the land known as the Ice Boundary," Maihime answered. "You are in L'ad, our capital city…although I will admit, the term 'city' is being used somewhat loosely. But serviceable land is in particularly short supply on this world, its perpetually frigid continents dominated almost solely by gargantuan beasts, so it seemed only logical for our various tribal villages to congregate into one. For protection, you see."

"Yes, I do," Ushio murmured. "But…can you tell me more about how you found me out there? Everything's…such a blur…"

"Like I said, I was…practicing…" Maihime replied, somewhat evasively; Ushio was certain that there was more to the story that she wasn't mentioning, but it hardly seemed an appropriate time to pry. Sweating slightly and then wiping the instantly crystallized sweat-drop from her pale cheek, she went on, "But in any event, you were not intensely difficult to locate; a crimson glow was alight about you, shining across the snowdrifts through even the thickest of stormwinds. And by that hallowed light, I recognized you at once: our prophesied savior."

"Wait, wait, let's hold on a minute!" Ushio yelped immediately, holding up his hands in instinctive protest. "Err…what was that last part again?"

"I am…probably not the best monster to explain that to you, human friend," asserted Maihime, nervously twirling one of her ice-wheels. "If you are feeling well enough, I should like to take you through our village and show you to our elders…including the prophetess who, ten moons ago, spoke of your arrival."

Weighing his options and deciding that he was unlikely to be in too much danger from a woman – even an inhuman one – who had just saved his life and nursed him back to health, Tetsu Ushio took a deep breath and followed the Dance Princess out of the tent, saying as he did, "Alright, lead the way. Oh, and if you're looking for something a bit more…err, natural to call me than 'human friend,' Tetsu Ushio will do."

[-]

"So how have things been lately, Black Rose Witch?" the Dark Signer asked Aki Izayoi as she slowly advanced upon her, her tone simultaneously casual and yet intensely venomous. "Kill anyone yet since Misty-san?"

Aki, for her part, had been rendered temporarily speechless by this indescribably bizarre turn of events; knowing from experience just how deadly a vindictive Dark Signer could be, she was mentally urging her feet with all her might to commence fleeing, but for whatever reason her body stubbornly refused to budge. It didn't help, of course, that she was hardly in peak shape right now, either physically _or_ mentally…her rather "active" meditation session, immediately followed by the unexpected trauma of absorbing Ruka's memories, had left her completely exhausted in both respects.

Failing to come up with anything else, Aki attempted to stall by sputtering, "Who…who _are_ you, exactly? And what do you want with me?"

The other woman gave a short, humorless chuckle before narrowing her eyes and uttering, "My name is Carly Nagisa, Black Rose Witch – the Dark Queen of this land, and very soon, the world. And as for my reasons for being here…well, it's really quite simple. I'm here to murder you, just as you did to Misty Lola two days ago. Or, no…perhaps 'slaying' would be the more proper term. After all, you can't murder a _monster._"

"I…I didn't…I mean, you don't understand…" Aki stammered, but it was of little use; the psychic had only _just_ managed to push the fate of Misty-san out of her active mind, and none of what she had gone through since had managed to assuage the guilt she felt in the least. This was not an issue that Aki was willing or able to confront at the present moment, and in the resulting panic she found her resolve toward escaping resumed, but before she could move further to act upon that impulse Carly raised a hand and forced the door of the gym to twist into a misshapen mass of rusted metal.

"I don't…'understand,' you say?" the Dark Signer whispered, eldritch energy crackling about her outstretched palm as her fury grew palpable enough to _literally_ lower the temperature of the room. "I believe that it is _you_ who doesn't understand, Black Rose W…"

"Stop _calling_ me that!" Aki screamed involuntarily, no longer entirely certain of what she was saying or why she was saying it. "That chapter of my life is closed – Yusei brought it to an end!"

"Oh, so just because you tried to clean up your past for your boyfriend's sake, you no longer have to answer for your crimes?" yelled Carly, jerking a finger and causing a rack of dumbbells to fly in her opposing number's general direction, Aki diving out of the way at the last second.

"No, that's not it!" Aki shouted out, unsure of why she was trying to reason with this madwoman but deciding that she really didn't have much of a choice. "I'm truly sorry for what I did to Misty-san, and you're right to call me a monster for it…but taking vengeance on me won't bring her back! I've…I've _tried_ the route of revenge, of undying hatred, and all it does is leave a gaping hole that can never be filled! Perhaps if we could just…just talk…"

"Shut _up!_" Carly screeched, the purplish energy rising in intensity as more and more heavy objects began to rise from the floor. "Don't you _dare_ even say her name! You are _nothing_ compared to Misty-san, Black Rose Witch…and I shall prove it, by grinding you into the dirt until you're nothing more than a bloody smear!"

But Aki hadn't heard a word after "nothing," for at that particular declaration she had found herself feeling strangely lightheaded, the world swimming in-and-out-of focus as her powers began to unconsciously flare to the surface. Aki had just enough presence of mind left to realize that the Dark Signer had inadvertently used one of Divine's lingering trigger phrases before her conical hairpiece snapped off, and her personality was submerged completely.

"Well now, 'Dark Queen'…" Aki spat, her hair falling into disarray as she rapidly began to regard, not another young woman, but merely yet one more obstacle on the road to the resurrection of Arcadia. "Why don't we test out that little theory of yours?"

[-]

"Okay, okay, explaining time…oh Gods, where to begin…" Judai Yuki mumbled to himself, drumming his fingers against his bent knee as he pondered how best to present the information he possessed to this small group of his old school friends.

"Well, for starters, I'd like an explanation for what _that_ is doing here," Jun Manjoume opened, his eyes narrowed as he jerked a finger at the casually simpering figure of Yubel.

Yubel's eyes (all three of them) returned the glare with equal intensity, though Judai shot out a hand preemptively to keep the spirit from escalating this confrontation further. Sighing, he answered, "Okay, look, I was guessing most of you would react like this initially…but a Helluva lot has changed since you all last saw Yubel. When she attacked us in the Spirit World, she was under the influence of the Light of Ruin…and you two – Manjoume, Asuka – should know better than anyone how nuts that stuff can drive you." This was, admittedly, something of a low blow on his part, but Judai didn't feel he had much of a choice; they couldn't afford to get distracted by something like this right now.

"My darling Judai is correct…I harbor no ill-will toward _any_ of you, as of this moment," Yubel asserted, though the glint in her eyes seemed to suggest otherwise. The edge to the Duel Spirit's voice did not appear lost on Rei Saotome, though her expression of astonishment seemed to be motivated by an entirely different stimulus.

"'Darling'? Then you two are…?" she gasped, raising both eyebrows to an almost comical extent.

"Lovers, yes," Yubel confirmed, arching suggestively against Judai's shoulder. "For either twenty-two years or over a billion, depending on how you choose to count time. But let's not change the subject; the point is that, whatever animosity existed between us in the past must _stay_ in the past, if we are to carry out Judai's plans and save your world from the gathering evil."

"Hey, I think I get it now!" Fubuki Tenjoin shouted out excitedly, stretching out across one of Sho Marufuji's couches. "Judai is actually the reincarnation of the prince of an ancient alien race, and you're his childhood attendant and companion, bonded with some primordial, monstrous force so that you could watch over and protect him for the eons that followed!"

Everyone in the room simultaneously gawked at the jovial brunette at this, though none moreso than Judai and Yubel, given how frighteningly accurate this "deduction" was. "Err…how exactly did you figure all _that_ out, Fubuki?" asked the former Osiris Red, his face contorted in shock and apprehension.

"Oh, I didn't figure it out! I just lifted the plot from the latest issue of _All-Star Zombire!_" Fubuki pronounced cheerfully, mouthing a few sound effects for emphasis.

"…So if you were still wondering whether my brother ever grew out of his whole 'adult child' phase, I guess you've got your answer," said Asuka Tenjoin with a sigh. "But like, err…_she_ stated, we should move on. What exactly is this mission you've got lined up for us, Judai?"

"Well first, I guess I gotta give you guys something of a…history lesson," Judai replied. "Okay, I think I've got a good starting point: I assume you all remember our old 'friend,' Darkness?"

"He's not exactly an easy face to forget," Manjoume retorted, looking irritated at the abrupt change of subject but apparently unwilling to rewind the conversation.

"Yeah, especially when the dude's kinda been, y'know, _inside_ ya," added Fubuki with a shudder. "But what about him?"

"Well…what if I told you that he wasn't exactly 'one of a kind'?" Judai posed to the room at-large.

"…And what exactly do you mean by _that_, aniki?" demanded Sho Marufuji, looking distinctly on-edge. "You mean to say there are _more_ of those guys running around the Earth?"

"Yes…and no," Judai replied, shivering uneasily. "It's more accurate to say that they're like…different members of the same species."

"So, that monster that attacked the Island? That…'King of the Underworld' thing you mentioned…?" Asuka reasoned out, recognition slowly dawning upon her face.

"Another of the 'visitors' of that sort to touch down upon our world, yes," Judai confirmed. "They don't really seem to have a collective name, but I've taken lately to calling them _Coisichean Dorchadas_ – Gaelic for 'darkness walkers.'" Pausing for a moment to coolly observe his friend's reactions to his knowledge of a near-dead language, the former Osiris student chuckled slightly and continued, "Regardless of what ya title 'em, though, a few things are certain about every single one: they're rare, they're ancient, and they each possess enough mystical power to end the world a dozen times over."

"I thought your domain _was_ darkness, aniki," Sho questioned, raising his eyebrow curiously.

"I would prefer to say that my domain is balance…or at least, bringing the darkness side of the equation _into_ balance," Judai corrected him, coalescing a few of the nearby shadows into physical tendrils and twirling them around his fingers to illustrate. "The darkest of entities gaining too much control over the Universe is _just_ as dangerous a prospect as the most negative of light doing the same. Of course, it doesn't help that this species quite literally _feeds_ on mortals' rage, terror, and despair, bringing out the worst of the inhabitants wherever they impact and moving on once they've sucked a particular planet dry."

"These things are extraterrestrial in nature, then?" queried Manjoume. "Your wording choice seems to imply it."

"If they're even from this dimension at _all_, then yeah," Judai responded with a sigh. "Honestly, twenty years of research on the subject has brought me no closer to truly understanding their origins. They're definitely not Earthborn, though – otherwise there should've been a lot more of them over the millennia."

"How many do you think there've been, Judai-kun?" Rei encouraged. "Besides Darkness and that 'King' beast, I mean."

"In total, I think I've managed to detect signs of four across the history of this planet, including the two already mentioned," explained Judai, forming a facsimile of Darkness out of the shadows in his palm to act as a visual aid. "For simplicity's sake, we'll go backward, chronologically speaking. Yubel, can you take it from here?"

"Certainly," she agreed with a fanged smirk. "The entity known simply 'Darkness' apparently touched down on Earth around the year 1400 A.D., arriving in a meteorite that impacted the coastal shelf of New Zealand. Nowadays, the impact site is called the Mahuika Crater, named after the Māori Goddess of Fire. What happened across the next few centuries is not yet entirely clear, but Darkness seems to have jumped around the isles lining the Pacific Ocean for a while before settling on the island that would one day house Duel Academia. The abandoned Obelisk Blue Dorm was built over his 'spot' of residence, which should go a fair way's toward explaining why so many…interesting occurrences took place there once humans moved in."

"But you took care of that guy in our last year, right Judai?" Asuka checked quickly, to which Judai nodded. "So why are you two going into so much detail about him?"

"We're just trying to be thorough," Judai assured them all, allowing the miniature model of the monster in question to dissipate. "In point of fact, all _three_ of the Coisichean that succeeded the King of the Underworld appear to now be deceased, but researching how the others fell is still the best way to figure out how to slay this one."

"Fine then…let's move on," Manjoume demanded impatiently. "Who's up next in our freakish foursome?"

"The second-most recent landing occurred in southwestern Egypt, about thirty-five hundred years ago," stated Yubel. "In what is now referred to as the Kamil Crater, an entity of timeless might touched down upon the Earth…but unlike Darkness, it could not immediately find a civilization on which to feed. But this creature was crafty, and it waited…and eventually, when a few military scouts came across it half-buried in the sands, it took a form that it knew – by scanning their minds – would entice them. The result was an artifact known as the Millennium Tome.

"The Tome would be passed down through the Egyptian royal family for many generations, until the encroachment of foreign armies finally convinced Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen to utilize one of the horrific spells written within it," Yubel went on, her partner reforming his palm-sized shadow figure and twisting it into a grotesque, vaguely gorilla-shaped monster with enormous wings. "What the Pharaoh _didn't_ know is that the spell in question, which would forge seven items by which mere mortals could wield the powers of the Gods…required ninety-nine human sacrifices."

Pausing for a moment as everyone but Manjoume gasped simultaneously – and even then, the relatively stoic brunette gritted his teeth quite tensely at this piece of information – Yubel warily continued, "This was, of course, the entity's plan all along. And so it came to be that in the dead of night, a conspiracy of high-ranking officials went behind the Pharaoh's back and set forth with an army to Kul Elna, a village notorious for its great number of thieves and murderers. In that single night, every last person in that village save one was slaughtered, and in forging the artifacts that would come to be called the Millennium Items with their blood, a great evil was born. Empowered by the combined sins and hatred of every single sacrifice, the entity within the book took on a new form…that of the archdæmon, Zorc Necrophades."

"Ahem…'save one'? Who was the survivor?" demanded Rei, staring at the spirit shrewdly.

"A boy named Bakura, though Egypt would later come to know him better as the Thief King," Yubel answered, Judai following suit by creating a facsimile of the young man in the pseudo-Zorc's shadow. "Furious over the massacre of his people, Bakura entered into a pact with Zorc, and together they lay siege to the Egyptian capital for countless nights. It was only through the last, desperate actions of the great Pharaoh Atem – Akhenamkhanen's son – that the Thief King and Zorc Necrophades were able to be sealed away, imprisoned together in one of the Items…the Millennium Ring. But Atem hadn't possessed the power necessary to destroy their evil completely, so he channeled his own soul into another Item, the Millennium Pendant, hoping that if Zorc should rise again he would be ready to stop him."

"I assume, based on your tone, that this _did_ end up happening eventually?" Manjoume verified, to which Judai formed yet another shadowy figure to stare down the others…one with a rather identifiable star-like hairstyle.

"In 1960, an archaeologist by the name of Sugoroku Muto made a secret expedition into Atem's tomb and retrieved the Pendant – now broken into pieces and rechristened the Millennium Puzzle," Judai jumped back in, grinning wide in-spite-of himself. "Many years later, that Puzzle would be solved by Sugoroku's grandson and, unbeknownst to either of them, Atem's genuine reincarnation: none other than Yugi Muto himself."

"Now it all makes sense!" Fubuki suddenly exclaimed, punching a fist in the air. "All along, the legendary Yugi-sama was being assisted in duels by his Spirit Partner, the lost soul of a departed Pharaoh struggling to rediscover the long-forgotten remnants of his past as they battled great evil together!"

"…Comic books again?" Asuka asked after a long pause, face-palming when he gave an enthusiastic nod. "Well, odds are good…he got that exactly right, didn't he?"

"Ayup," Judai replied, his smile growing even moreso now that they were firmly on the subject of his idol. "Now, I'll spare you all the less pertinent details, because it's one _Helluva_ longstory…but the important thing to note is that Bakura was reincarnated as well, albeit as a rather gentler soul than his Egyptian counterpart. But that fact was of little consequence to Zorc and the Thief King, who over the course of their long imprisonment had melded into a singular being.

"This monstrous 'Dark Bakura' took control of his descendant and forced him to battle Yugi in several Games of Darkness, the final of which threatened the full resurrection of Zorc and the end of all life on Earth. But by the narrowest of margins, the Game went in Yugi's favor, and everything that was Zorc – past, present, _and_ future – was wiped from existence. It was Atem's final great deed prior to departing for his own long-awaited afterlife, and though few would ever know of it, we wouldn't be standing here today if he'd failed," Judai finished, his voice now nearly shaking with reverence.

"Okay, okay, color me impressed," Manjoume admitted, breathing heavily as, for whatever reason, he began to slowly thumb through his deck. "Yugi Muto officially rocks a lot harder than I ever really gave him credit for; huzzah."

"Err…yeah, what he said," added Sho, casting an awkward glance at Jun, who was lingering rather longer on a few particular cards than seemed strictly necessary. The brunette professor no longer appeared to be paying attention to them, however. "But…well, um, there's one thing that still confuses me, aniki."

Manjoume sniffled at this honorific, though quietly enough that no one but Judai seemed to notice. Shuffling uncomfortably, Sho pressed on, "I get the sense that Darkness was kinda on the low end, so far as these things' power levels go – and I'll admit, that probably scares me more than anything else – but how does this 'King' rank? I mean, if Zorc took three thousand years, an immortal pharaoh, and the greatest duelist who ever lived to kill…then how does _this_ creature compare?"

"In terms of raw power, I would say that Zorc probably had the initial edge…but the King is _far_ craftier, and it's had a great deal more of a head-start on planning all this shit out," Judai responded matter-of-factly. "Which I guess serves as a decent transition to our next baddy – quite possibly the mightiest of all the Coisichean that've ever visited this planet, but also probably the least clever."

Now the strands of shadow formed an intricate symbol in the air, a pentagram-like shape surrounded by several concentric circles. Keeping one eye on the suddenly distant Manjoume, Judai resumed his exposition with, "First of all, to understand any of what I'm about to explain, you all have gotta understand that the city of Atlantis is no mere myth. Ten thousand years ago it was as real as Mesopotamia or Egypt, and considerably more advanced. This was thanks to an incredible new mineral their civilization had discovered, rained down from the heavens in a dazzling meteor shower. In those days, they called it Orichalcum."

"Lemme guess – another one of those coy-…err, things?" guessed Rei, to which both Judai and Yubel nodded.

"This entity had taken a similar path to Zorc, disguising itself as an inanimate object so as to fool the native populace," Yubel explained. "Assuming the form of an enormous crystal, it was worshipped and treasured by the Atlantean people as something akin to a physical God. And its boundless energies very soon transformed their primitive economy, allowing their society and technologies to advance farther in a scant few years than the rest of the world would in over ten millennia. But there was a dark side to this amazing march of progress.

"Contact with the Orichalcum stones produced…unpredictable results, you see," said Yubel, her partner's shadow-creations wavering slightly as if he was reticent to visually represent what she was now speaking of. "On the one hand, they had the tendency to boost the strength, stamina, and _especially_ intelligence of those who wielded them, particularly over long stretches of time. But it is in a Coisiche's very nature to feed on the inner darkness of mortals, and the unchecked power it provided to the Atlantean people brought out the worst in them. Their greed, selfishness, and hatred were made physical by the crystals, until finally they were swallowed up by their own wickedness and transformed into soulless wraiths.

"Their stolen souls, meanwhile, came to coalesce into a creature of nigh-unparalleled might: the Orichalcos God, Leviathan," Yubel continued to relate, Judai's illusory tendrils forming by far the largest figure yet, a titanic eldritch serpent. "An extension of the Orichalcum's collective consciousness, the Leviathan brought death and decay to all of the Mediterranean, brainwashing the Atlantean King Dartz into serving as its vassal and waging war against all who stood in its path. Desperate, the former king – Dartz' father, Ironheart – made contact with the Duel Monsters Spirit World and gathered an army to oppose his son's, eventually sealing away the Orichalcos God deep within the Earth."

"So what happened to Dartz, then?" questioned Asuka, who too was glancing sideways at her husband in concern; another, louder sniffle in response to this latest portion of the narrative had given her more of an inkling of precisely what was bothering him, and she squeezed his hand wordlessly in an attempt to provide comfort.

Manjoume jumped a little at the sudden contact, but didn't say anything, so Yubel returned to the story with, "Dartz still possessed the original Orichalcum stone, so the Coisiche that had taken the form of the Leviathan was not yet vanquished. Remotely, it endowed him with eternal youth and instructed him to gather millions more human souls to sate its hunger, until it was powerful enough to break completely free of its prison. For the next hundred centuries, the Atlantean King did precisely that."

"But in the year 1997, at his plan's very final juncture, Dartz was soundly thwarted by Yugi Muto…mere months before he was fated to slay Zorc as well, might I add," Judai quipped with another wide grin. "The Leviathan's resurrection only ended up lasting for about fifteen minutes, as Yugi and the Pharaoh Atem brought forth three of the Egyptian Gods and used them to crush it to dust, freeing Dartz from its influence and allowing him to finally pass on. Every trace of Orichalcum on Earth died with it, and its myriad victims' souls were freed."

"And…that covers them all, yeah?" queried Fubuki, ticking them off on his fingers. "Darkness, Zorc, and the Leviathan…that just leaves that King-y thing. You said that one's the oldest, didn't you?"

"By a rather significant margin, yes," Judai answered, creating one final set of facsimiles: one for each of the rattled-off Coisichean, with all but the King of the Underworld sporting comically large "X"-marks across their shadowy forms. "While I'd be kinda surprised if you'd all heard of the craters in Egypt and New Zealand – and _definitely_ about the crash in Atlantis, considering that one's not exactly in the history books – I'm dead-certain you'll all be familiar with the meteor that I believe was the carrier of the King of the Underworld. I'll give you guys two hints: one, that it crashed here around sixty-five million years ago; and two, that Kenzan would've been fucking _pissed_ about it."

"You mean…?" gasped Rei, a hand flying up over her mouth.

"Yep…we're talking about an entity that, simply by _arriving_ here, killed over half the life on this planet in one shot," Judai described with a deep shiver. "Doing so required it to use up pretty much the entirety of its inherent power, which is why none of the others ever tried anything of that scale…but it's had millions of years to refuel itself on our collective fear and hatred, and it hasn't wasted them. You guys remember all those weird birds and things it generated out of its body on the Island, right?"

"Was…was that what was killing everyone, then?" asked Asuka, her voice small as she vividly recalled the recent slaughter. "I couldn't see any sign of what was causing it; just the…results…"

"That's kinda weird," Judai remarked, tapping a finger against his stubble-covered chin. "Unless…oh yeah, _that_ makes sense! The King's way too powerful to hide itself completely – though I'm guessing it's probably blocked itself from anything other than direct viewing as a matter of course – but its children are a different story."

"Wait, wait, hold up a second!" interjected Sho frantically. "You mean to tell us that monster has _kids_?"

"Unfortunately, yes," replied Judai. "That's what I was getting at before: the King of the Underworld is unique among its species, so far as I've seen at least, in that it is capable of piecing off bits of itself and birthing new Coisichean. It calls its latest the 'Earthbound Gods'…demons of pure malice, designed to help direct it toward its enemies now that it's grown too powerful to do so all on its own. What aided it at Academia Island yesterday were such creatures in their infant forms – little more than mean ghosts and spirits, good only for short-lived, expendable minions. Young as they were at that point, I find it likely their power levels were low enough that only beings with natural mystical attunement would be able to see them fully…kinda like Duel Spirits, I guess."

Judai knew, a split-second after making that analogy, that it had been the wrong thing to say, but by the time he could attempt to steer the course of his speech away from these dangerous waters Jun Manjoume was already storming out of the room, a haphazard pile of stress-creased cards left in his wake.

"You guys all just sit tight for a minute, alright?" Judai Yuki requested of his friends and lover, bounding after his former rival without waiting for an answer.

[-]

"You 'have a plan'? Then get to explaining it already!" demanded Jinbei Tanigawa, his face contorted in exasperation. "It's not like we've got all fucking day!"

"Indeed," Jean Aramis acceded, Jinbei's statement only being reinforced by the unrelenting banging of the legions of zombies upon their walls. "So here's how things are going to go down. Andore, start prepping the helicopter for take-off and then set it for autopilot, using the coordinates from that Dojima guy's marker. We're gonna need reinforcements pretty damn soon, and based on what Stephanie told me that's our best bet unless Jin can get back with Yusei. So Senator Izayoi, I want you and your wife in that copter and out of here the _moment_ it's ready."

"You can count on us," Setsuko Izayoi replied, nodding firmly.

"And now, as for the rest of you…Breo, Leo, Tenzen, Soichi, and Stephanie, you're going to need to start hitting that 'Reggie' creature with everything we've fucking got," Jean continued. "Heat, cold, electricity, poison…Kryptonite, whatever! We've gotta figure out these guys' weaknesses, and we need to do it quickly."

"Gotcha, sonny!" exclaimed Tenzen Yanagi, already tapping on the impenetrable glass and causing the undead soldier inside to shriek even louder than usual.

"What about us, then?" Taro Yamashita requested with a wide gesture to himself and his friends, gritting his teeth in nervous resolve as he stared at the consoles depicting the ever-increasing armada just outside their doors.

"You're all with me…as is Andore, once the Izayois have taken off successfully," the Team Kizuna leader finished ordering. "We've got easily the most dangerous job – reactivating the defensive and weapons systems that were knocked out by the destruction of the generator. Which, incidentally, is gonna mean briefly going outside."

"Why in the Hell does this place have…no, wait, never mind. I don't wanna know," Jinbei remarked, sighing deeply. "Lead the way then, my flamboyant compatriot."

"Glad to hear everyone's on the same page, then," Jean stated with a curled lip; whether he was genuinely amused by the teenager's snark or, like everyone else in the room, simply doing whatever he could to stave off panic in the face of their present odds, was unclear. "If there are no more questions, then you all have your assignments – so let's move!"

And with those words, every member of the recently united team turned and walked silently to their appointed tasks, leaving Breo Athos, Leo Laruto, Tenzen Yanagi, Soichi Kazama, and Stephanie Bloomsdale alone once more, though now in the additional company of a rather disagreeable ghoul.

"Urgh…three _seconds_ near this thing and I'm ready to tear my own ears off," Kazama groaned. "So how're we gonna go about this whole 'experimenting' thing, anyway? Anyone here got anything more than high-school-level knowledge of biology? I was a psych-major myself, so I doubt I'll be much use for this."

"I'm afraid both my doctorates are in the field of anthropology, sonny," Yanagi chimed in. "I mean, I've got some old colleagues from college who might be able to help, but I'm not really sure how to get into contact with them right now. Plus, most of 'em are dead already…"

"And I'm guessing you two lack much expertise outside of engineering and the…err, 'culinary arts,' correct?" Breo asked of Leo and Stephanie, who both nodded – the latter somewhat embarrassedly. "Probably still better than me, though…never really gave much thought to my education outside of dueling. Well, and computers, but that's all self-taught."

"Doesn't mean we can't still give it a shot…uh, right dude?" Leo responded with a nervous laugh, now ushering Yanagi away from the capsule and examining the various switches and displays lining parts of its surface. "I mean, Jean just threw out a couple decent options to start with; poison's probably gonna be too hard to get a hold of right now, but it looks like this machine's got an adjustable thermal regulator, so testing it under extremely high or low temperatures should work. And we definitely know that electricity works 'cause of those horny-things on your guys' D-Wheels…we just don't know _why_ yet."

"Do you think you can work this thing?" Breo questioned skeptically, walking over and joining his fellow blond at the control panel.

"Eh, it doesn't seem _that_ complicated, all things considered," Leo answered with a shrug, experimentally dialing the temperature up a few degrees and watching the monster within howl at the alteration. "Hmm…well, the creature doesn't seem to be _liking_ it, but the heat's not doing much in the way of actively harming him either. Get over here, everyone – I could use the extra sets of eyes."

Hurrying over, the remaining trio joined Leo and Breo in examining the being Jean had called "Reggie" from top-to-bottom, the temperature within the capsule rising steadily as it did. But while the wraith was unceasing in its propensity toward screeching its banshee-like wail and slamming itself against the pod's unyielding walls, there were no physical indications that the now-boiling swelter was in any way causing it permanent damage.

Sighing and swearing under his breath, Leo began to twist the dial as far as possible in the opposite direction, but while moisture immediately began to condense upon the inside of the capsule, none appeared upon Reggie's emaciated skin, even as the temperature started to dip below freezing and ice crystals formed all around it. "Alright, at least we now know what's super _in_effective," the clockmaker murmured, now rather exasperatedly. "Shit…I don't think we've got much else left other than exploring the electricity angle at this point. Got anything useful for that purpose lying around?"

"We _do_ have a fair few replacement horns for the D-Wheels in storage, all of which can carry a decent charge," Breo informed him, rushing off to shuffle through a nearby closet. "Most of them are in the garage, and if Jean has half-an-ounce of sense he'll bring a few along for his own mission, but…yeah, here's one. How do you expect to conduct the discharge into the monster, though?"

"Simple: we go fishing," Leo pronounced with a sober grin, examining the synthetic-lightning-generator shaped like a jagged, golden horn. "But I'm gonna need some copper wire and something conductive that the creature could be tricked into grab onto…y'know, something shiny."

"Uhh…will this do?" Stephanie suggested hesitantly, reaching over to the tea-tray she had used at the meeting and grabbing a silver spoon.

"Considering that silver's the most conductive metal in existence, I sure as Hell hope so," asserted Leo as he began connecting the pieces of the miniature circuit, Breo helpfully handing over a line of wire and some leather safety gloves from the improbably well-stocked supply closet. "Now get ready, people – I'm gonna open up a tiny hatch in the capsule and slip the spoon into Mister Ugly's grasp. And then…well, I've really got no idea, but I'd stay wary just in case."

But while the entire quintet waited with bated breath for some sort of spectacular pay-off, it was not to be; Leo's hastily improvised plan went off without a hitch, but "Reggie" did little but grab the kitchen utensil and violently shake it back and forth. Biting his lip as yet _another_ method appeared to be failing miserably, the bandana-wearing engineer dramatically increased the voltage, but it was no use – for whatever reason, the electricity from these devices seemed no longer capable of harming one of these Hellspawn in the least.

Leo Laruto would have screamed at the top of his lungs in frustration as he finally gave up, yanked the cord out of the zombie's reach, and resealed the hatch, but the energy required for such a thing had been snuffed out of him completely. Rather, the cold, creeping realization that they were all going to die here today came crashing back in an instant, no longer impeded by the distractions of the task at-hand. Sinking to his knees without even really realizing it, the clockmaker could manage no further words than a hollow, throaty, "Well then…I guess that's it. We're all…really gonna die…"

"Hey, don't say that!" protested Breo, grabbing the younger man by the shoulder and pulling him up. "We can still…"

"Don't you _get_ it?" Leo interjected, slapping away Breo's hands as his tones grew increasingly frantic. "For the past day or so we've been living on borrowed time, busying ourselves with irrelevant shit and pretending as if our actions actually _matter_ half-a-damn! But they don't! No one cares what a few pro-duelists and their colorful collection of nobody sidekicks are getting up to. We've been fooling ourselves into thinking that _any_ action we can pull off actually makes a lick of difference in this fucking War, but y'know what? In an hour, no matter what we say or do, every single one of us will be lying dead on the ground…and not one person in the world will miss us!"

"Momentum…" Yanagi mumbled to himself, but he was largely ignored in the wake of Leo's outburst, mostly because he was finally voicing thoughts that they _all_ had had but consciously buried in favor of the ongoing mission.

"Look, Leo…" Kazama attempted to console him, "I understand what you're saying…I really, really do. But like it or not, we're soldiers right now, and that's the ultimate duty of a soldier: to be willing to lay down one's life for what is right, even if no one will live to remember the sacrifice. If that's too much for you – too much for _any_ of us – then you're free to barricade yourself down somewhere in the basement and just try to survive. None of us asked for this, and in an ideal world none of us should _have_ to be making this choice. But even if our contributions _do_ ultimately lead to nothing in the grand scheme of things…well, I for one wouldn't feel right unless I at least gave it my best shot."

"Momentum…" Yanagi repeated, this time a bit more forcefully.

"Yeah…yeah, I know you're right," Leo admitted wearily, burying his face in his hands as he did. "But I just…don't see where we can go from here. _Nothing_ works on this damn thing…"

"_Momentum!_" Yanagi yelled out, quite a bit more loudly than he had intended. With the group's collective focus immediately snapping back to him, the older gentleman laughed nervously and then elaborated, "Well sonnies, if yeh think about it logically, ain't it obvious what the answer is? I mean, take fact one: those horny-things blew up those monsters just fine when they were attached to yer D-Wheels. And then, take fact two: one of 'em didn't work when _not_ attached to a D-Wheel. So what's the key difference between the two?"

"The…power source…" Breo slowly murmured, his eyes going wide in realization. "Someone, quick, grab a Duel Disk!"

Handing over his standard Security model with a slight wince, Kazama watched in stunned amazement as Breo and Leo began rapidly modifying the circuit until it fit into the Duel Disk's miniaturized Momentum reactor. Then, with a high-pitched whir, the shimmering perpetual motion machine was activated, and the spoon was once more carefully lowered into Reggie's line of sight.

…What followed was easily the most horrific, earsplitting noise any of the five had ever experienced, as the zombie made another eager grasp for the twinkling utensil and immediately felt its right arm explode into amorphous goop.

"_Holy…!_" Stephanie gasped, too thunderstruck to even finish her oath. The rest of the present members of Team Kizuna seemed to share in her reaction entirely, though they were somewhat less vocal about it; still, the results were clear. Exposure to the energies of Momentum, for whatever reason, was indeed the Achilles' heel that they had all been searching for.

"Someone…needs to run this information up to Jean and the others, immediately," Breo reasoned out, barely watching as Reggie writhed about in agony, its hideous stump continuing to "bleed" black ooze over the capsule's inner surfaces.

"I'll…I'll go, then," Stephanie timidly offered, at least partially out of an extreme desire to get away from the sight of the violently hemorrhaging creature.

"Alright, but hold on a moment. That knowledge won't be of much use of them until we know how to use it," Breo instructed her, not wanting to consider whether his teammates had already exited _Always_ to rearm the facility from the outside. Joining that with the veritable litany of other issues he was putting out of his mind until the present crisis was resolved, he then said to the others, "Okay, our time is short and our time for planning is shorter, so we've got one last thing to figure out here: how in the Hell do we weaponize something like Momentum?"

"I suppose I could come up with a few ideas, but I'm afraid I probably won't have the time," came a staid voice from behind them, and Yanagi's was the first face to light up in recognition.

"_Yusei!_" he cried ecstatically, rushing forward to embrace his friend with mist in his eyes. "Oh good Marduk, sonny – I wasn't sure I'd ever see ya again! How're things?"

"Not great, all things considered," answered Yusei Fudo, chuckling dryly at the elderly man's momentary lapse in awareness. "But it's good to be under a secure roof again, at least briefly…"

"So _you're_ the infamous Yusei Fudo…glad to finally meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm Breo Athos, one of the leaders of Team Kizuna," Breo opened, shaking his hand curtly. "This is…"

"Himuro-san's already given me the basic rundown on you guys," Yusei interjected, continuing the trail of short handshakes across the room. "It's good to know that my friends and I aren't the only people out there fighting the good fight, as it were. Especially those other two guys who were dressed like you; never would've made it in here if they hadn't been strafing the area with those amazing electric D-Wheels."

"So they _are_ still alive…for now, at least," Breo murmured, his tone an even mixture of relief and grimness.

"Your friends? Do you mean those other…'Signer' people?" jumped in Kazama when the blond's voice trailed off.

"Among others," Yusei replied shortly, peering anxiously around the chamber. "Speaking of which, Himuro said you guys might be able to arrange me transport back to Satellite to help them. I wouldn't ask if the situation wasn't as dire as it is, but…"

"They've been prepping a copter to go see my mom, Zora, for a little while now…don't know if they've taken off yet, though," explained Leo. "If you hurry, though, you might still be able to catch up to the Izayois before they leave…"

"You're Zora-sama's son?" Yusei repeated, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah…now that I think about it, that _would_ be a logical place for Martha and the rest to have evacuated to…and having Aki's parents with me could only be an asset. She's…in trouble, you see. That's the reason why I _need_ to get there as soon as possible."

"Then I'll radio the hangar bay and tell them to wait up for you, if they haven't left already," Breo assured him, rushing over to a console and picking up a microphone. A few moments later, he added, "Alright, you're in luck; looks like they were _just_ about to take off. The hangar's over on the other side of the complex. Head straight through that hall and follow it all the way to the end, and you can't miss it."

"Th…Thank you," Yusei responded with a quick bow. "But…one other thing before I leave. You just said that you needed a way to weaponize Momentum, right? I assume, because it was the thing that managed to do _that_?" He gestured to the still-screeching Reggie, flailing about madly as it continued to "bleed" black, and Kazama nodded in confirmation.

"Well, in that case…I'm not sure if this'll work, but _everything_ modern Duel Disks and D-Wheels generate comes directly from their central Momentum battery," Yusei reasoned, one foot already out the door. "I'm just spit-balling here, but perhaps…"

"If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting, then that is…fucking insane…" Breo uttered quietly, but nevertheless he felt his hands moving to test the younger man's hypothesis, as patently ludicrous as it seemed. Digging through his pocket and extracting a copy of _Horn of the Unicorn_, Breo took a step backward and tremulously lowered the Equip Spell onto Kazama's active Duel Disk, taking care to position himself so that the hologram would appear directly within Reggie's capsule.

For a mere second, nothing happened, and Breo began to mentally berate himself for wasting precious time with a nonsense suggestion like this. But then the creature's skin began to churn.

The spear-like horn had manifested straight through the undead monster's chest, and its overall effect was certainly not unremarkable; a gaping hole through its sallow skin had been gouged out, and the tissue around it was boiling and sizzling as if suddenly liquid. The gathered heroes had only just enough time to note all of this, however, before its agonizing cries reached a fever pitch, and with a blinding flash Reggie-1 exploded into a sickening puddle of grayish goop.

"That was…somewhat noteworthy…" Kazama sputtered, his eyes bulging in simultaneous awe with every other human being in the room.

It was Leo who recovered quickest from this unexpected development, and with a great whoop he punched his fist into the air. "Oh _yeah!_" he hooted, now proceeding to dance wildly in place. "We did it, it's our birthday, we got 'em, it's our birthday…"

"Err…pardon me asking, but _why_ did that work?" Stephanie meekly wondered, taken even further aback then before by the creature's rather violent demise. "Those are just…holograms, right? Just light and stuff…"

"_Hard_ light," Breo corrected her, his tone making it quite clear that he scarcely believed what had just happened himself. "KaibaCorp's Solid Vision technology does give some substance to its projections, in order to make the duels seem more realistic…but that's not really the point here. Keep in mind, like Yusei said, _everything_ that comes out of the Duel Disk is coming directly from its central battery. And in this case, the central battery just so happens to be running on Momentum – the exact same energy that burns this creature to cinders the moment it hits him."

"…Yusei, anyone ever tell you you're a fucking genius?" quipped Jin Himuro after a few more moments' stunned silence, taking hold of his friend in a quick, one-armed hug to underscore the point.

"Err…I agree with that entirely, don't get me wrong, but weren't we all on _kind of _a tight schedule?" demanded Soichi Kazama, shocking everyone out of the brief reverie that this unexpected success had brought on.

"Q…Quite right," Breo agreed, resuming his informal leadership role in Jean's absence. "Yusei, Stephanie – you two can head off now! Make sure to bring this info to our teammates as soon as you can!"

"Right!" squeaked Stephanie Bloomsdale, her whole body snapping to attention before abruptly rushing out of the room. Yusei, for his part, merely gave a curt nod as if to repeat his earlier thank-you…and then he too was gone.

"And as for the rest of us…" Breo finished, wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow as his eyes hardened with resolve. "Well, we _finally_ know what works…so grab a deck and a Duel Disk, and let's give 'em Hell."

[-]

"…I've just put Tetsuzo-san to bed, my lady," called out Kenji Mizoguchi in his usual businesslike tones. "Now, you really should allow me to set that leg. I believe I have found a sufficient splint."

"I am perfectly _fine,_" shot back Sherry Leblanc, a little more sternly than she had been intending. Shifting uncomfortably on the worn-out couch that was now serving as her own personal slice of sanctuary, she amended, "Although…I suppose, if you're offering…

"Right away, my lady," Mizoguchi replied, returning moments later with a set of clean bandages and a long, thin piece of wood. "I ask that you brace yourself; this will not be the most pleasant of experiences.

"Do what you have to do," Sherry acceded with a wince, before sighing deeply. "Mizoguchi…do you think I am a horrible person?"

"Of course not, my lady," Mizoguchi instantly answered, his tone remaining even. "Why would you even _ask_ such a thing?"

"I know I haven't always been the ideal ward, Mizoguchi; no need to sugarcoat it," Sherry insisted as the older man gingerly began to massage the knee tissue, readying it for the inevitably painful resetting to follow. "All these years of pursuing _my_ vendetta, training _me_ for little more than a life of unending violence…and now, I've shattered my all-time record by getting us stranded in a Japanese ghetto, sitting around in some broken-hearted old man's living room with barely the slightest idea where our only local ally could be. This sort of thing happens far more than is fair to you – I hear the word 'Yliaster' and I immediately charge off half-cocked, always dragging you along for the ride."

"And? All youth are impetuous, to a degree," Mizoguchi nonchalantly remarked. "Now, are you ready?"

"G…Go ahead," murmured Sherry, before letting out a shrill, involuntary scream as the splintered bone was set back into place. Lying back with her teeth gritted while her guardian began to apply the splint and bandages, she then added in a small voice, "But…why? Why the Hell do you keep doing it? Why do you…stay with me?"

"Again, a ridiculous question…not offense intended, my lady," said Mizoguchi. "You know, of course, that I am more than just a humble butler. A woman as sharp as you cannot have missed it."

"I've been fairly certain for a while that you answer to someone more important than myself, yes," Sherry affirmed, now breathing deeply to keep the pain in her leg from overwhelming her. "But I don't see how that answers my question."

"That 'someone' is Interpol…but no, I do not answer to that organization any longer," explained Mizoguchi softly. "Originally my superiors sent me to track the _Z-One_ card given by KaibaCorp to your father for study; the credentials I used to secure my original position in your home, I'm sorry to say, were almost entirely falsified. But on…_that_ night…everything changed, my lady."

Finishing up the makeshift cast and adding an icepack to minimize any further swelling, the Japanese gentleman continued, "By all measures, my task at that point should have been simple: locate some sort of alternate home for you outside of Paris and surreptitiously lift the card as soon as I did. And I was considering it, too, quite seriously…but only for a moment, my lady. For when I saw your tiny form there, trembling and bawling in grief over your parents…all I could think to do was hold you close."

He was punctuating these words, now, by enacting them, his tight yet tender hold around her shoulders making Sherry shudder slightly in unexpected comfort. "Forming a relationship with you was never part of the mission, you see. I was to take exactly the steps necessary to place _Z-One_ into the hands of law enforcement – no more, no less. Now, my lady, you know that I am not one to dwell in excessive saccharinity…but nevertheless, it cannot possibly be stated enough. I stay with you, always…because that is what a man does for his daughter."

Anyone who knew Sherry Leblanc well (which, to be fair, wasn't exactly a lengthy list these days) knew that weeping was about as far from her usual demeanor as anything could ever be imagined to be. And yet here she was, hanging off her guardian's shoulders with her eyes wet and a broad, warm smile upon her face. She was trying to put quite a few things she would never, ever be willing to say aloud into that embrace, and though Mizoguchi's expression did not alter in the slightest she could tell with absolute assurance that he had understood them.

That brief moment of vulnerability was short, but tender; the former, however, was not by choice on either of their parts. For only a few seconds later, they were interrupted by a series of frantic rapping sounds, striking against Tetsuzo Kuzuyama's worn-out front door.

"Stay here, my lady; I shall investigate," Mizoguchi instructed her, before heading to the door and staring cautiously out of the peephole. "Who is out there? Declare yourselves."

"I…I am Mikage Sagiri, a member of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau!" a feminine voice cried shrilly, though the precise reason for her tone became fairly obvious with her next statement. "Please, you have to let us in! There's a violent madman in the area, and I have children with me!"

The panicked chatter of several distinctly youthful voices that followed seemed to confirm the woman's story, so with his Duel Disk at the ready Mizoguchi slowly creaked open the door, allowing five young kids to scramble straight past him and collapse in a trembling heap.

The asylum-seeker, meanwhile, turned out to be a fairly young woman with blue hair and a haphazardly stained blue suit, who offered her hand as soon as the door was once again shut and triple-latched. "Thank you, sir," she panted, clearly out of breath. "Hopefully this will have been enough to throw him off our trail…"

"Pardon me, miss, but who exactly is this 'madman' you're talking about?" asked Mizoguchi, causing Mikage to shudder and go over to the children, who grasped onto her tight.

"He's a psychologist and duelist by the name of Doctor Frank Adler," she answered succinctly. "If you follow professional dueling at all, you may recognize him as a contestant in the recent Fortune Cup."

"Ah…you are referring to the deranged gentleman who faced that poor young girl?" Mizoguchi recalled with a scowl.

"Yes, he's rather…incensed about the results of that duel, and desires bloody vengeance on the child more than anything else," Mikage told him tensely. "I was blackmailed using the safety of _these_ children into leading him to her, but I managed to shoot him and get away before it came to that…"

"Err…excuse me? You _shot_ him, and he's still after you at full pace?" Mizoguchi questioned, a hand across his chin. "I believe there's something we're not…getting here, I'm afraid."

"Did I say…I mean…well, look, it's a _very_ long story," Mikage stammered uneasily. "But while I'm eternally grateful to you for granting us sanctuary, I'm not sure I'm comfortable…"

As her voice tapered off, Mizoguchi began to carefully analyze the situation. Clearly there was a close and present danger to his lady's life – and these children's – lingering about the area, meaning that they needed to start sharing information as soon as possible. On the other hand, he _did_ understand her reticence…and given the dots he was starting to vaguely connect in his head, he was pretty sure he knew a way to loosen it with a single statement.

"My apologies for not introducing myself immediately, miss, but I am Kenji Mizoguchi. On the couch there is my charge, duelist Sherry Leblanc," he declared. "And we are friends and allies of Yusei Fudo."

[-]

"Where…where am I?" asked Saiga Madera to no one in particular. But as he was just now regaining consciousness and had not yet retrieved all of his short-term memory, it seemed an appropriate enough thing to say.

"Shut the Hell up over there," growled another, much deeper voice, causing Saiga's head to turn and regard an enormous brute of a man hunched over a tiny fire. "I may still need ya alive as a hostage, but that doesn't mean I can't cut your fucking lips off if you tempt me."

Now it was all coming back…unfortunately. He had been tussling around with that Bolger guy before being knocked out, and while _this_ particular creep was unfamiliar, the freakily pulsing feathers jabbed in both their chests indicated _some_ sort of connection.

Jerking around a bit, a few more details about his surroundings and his situation became clear. He was bound at the wrists and ankles with some sort of thick rope, and lying atop a rough slab of rock…encircled, it appeared, by mountains upon mountains of freshly fallen snow. And indeed, by straining his head, Saiga could just barely pick up the giant murmuring, "Of all the fucking worlds he could've set the portal to, I get winter-fucking-wonderland…"

Now the pieces were starting to come together…at least to some degree. Clearly they weren't in Japan anymore, though for the life of him Saiga couldn't think of where they possibly could've gone; there wasn't a lot of frozen tundra within easy traveling distance, after all. Still, the term "portal" was a curious one – he had long-since accepted, of course, that joining up with Yusei Fudo meant immersing himself in a world he had neither the ability nor the inclination toward truly grasping, but he seemed to have managed to keep himself on the outskirts of that sphere for the most part…until this day. Now he was getting chased half-across the Satellite by zombies, pummeled by a weird businessman with a glowing feather jutting out of his ribs, and kidnapped by a lumbering giant to who-knew-where across space and time.

"Meh…enough resting," grunted the brute after a few more silent moments, hoisting Saiga onto his shoulder with one enormous hand. "We're heading off."

Shivering intensely and not exactly willing to test this man's patience in the sort of state he was in, Saiga decided to keep his mouth shut in tacit agreement.

…Half-an-hour or so later, however, the former duelist was beginning to have second thoughts about that decision. Every acre of this icy wasteland seemed to look exactly the same, and his enigmatic captor evidently had no better idea on which way to go than he did. At least _he_ was wrapped up in a heavy overcoat, though; Saiga wasn't quite as fortunate, and struggling not to show it and risk arousing this man's ire was taking all his self-control.

The sole interruption of this Hellish monotony in over an hour of trudging through the snowbanks came when a large, white worm burst out of the frigid landscape and sank its mandibles in the brute's right arm, though he managed to shake it off with little difficulty. The nonchalance with which the kidnapper regarded this event confirmed at least two things in Saiga's mind: that this misshapen giant's strength was very clearly _not_ entirely human, and that this was most assuredly _not_ Japan…or anywhere else he had ever heard of, for that matter.

"…Wanna hear a story, you little bastard?" the other man uttered out of the blue several moments later. "I'm gonna go insane if this silence keeps goin' one more fucking minute…"

Oh, how he wished he could comment on _that_ last statement…but nevertheless, Saiga remained quiet and perked up his ears. Perhaps if he could keep this guy talking long enough, he might let slip some information about where in the Hell they actually _were_ at this point – not to mention who _he_ was in the first place.

"I used to be somebody, ya know? A big hotshot when the Underground dueling world was just starting out," his captor related bitterly. "But then one day, who should walk up to one of our rings than that pansy-ass millionaire, Pegasus Crawford…and he was offerin' a job. Twenty million yen upfront and a hefty bonus just to run around his big Duelist Kingdom tournament and beat the crap outta everyone in sight. He called us that signed up for it 'Player Killers,' and as for me? Well, _I_ was the Player Killer of Darkness, crushing unsuspecting duelists from the heart of the deepest shadows. It was a good life…yeah, a _good_ life…"

"But then _he_ showed up," hissed the man who had termed himself the Player Killer. "Some young upstart with giant hair and the body of a twelve-year-old, challenging _me_ on my home turf! Come to think of it, douche, you've probably heard about him…or doesn't the name 'Yugi Muto' ring any bells?"

Saiga nearly lost his composure and face-palmed at this latest question; of _course_ it did, considering he was quite possibly the most famous celebrity in the history of gaming. Knowing that this man had faced Yugi in the Duelist Kingdom era at least narrowed down a few personal details about him, such as his age; if Saiga's chronological perception was correct, and he really had little idea if it was at this point, that would've occurred over thirty years ago. Well, that explained the gray hairs peeking out from beneath the guy's skullcap, at least…

"Anyway, sure, _now_ everyone thinks that kid was such hot shit, but I'll tell ya firsthand – he dueled me like a fucking pussy," the Player Killer continued to ramble. "All fucking catapults and knights and…and turtles, and shit like that…fucking _cheater_…"

The giant's babbling became increasingly incoherent as his fury rose quite palpably, and Saiga was forced to bite down hard as his captor squeezed tight on his midsection in fury. His restraint seemed well-warranted, however, as from what he could see of the Player Killer's face at this angle, he had little doubt that murdering him right here and now wasn't even close to out of the question.

"But yeah…that wasn't the reason I'm tellin' this story, of course…" he went on, resuming his lumbering trudge through the snow. "See, it wasn't enough that that stupid little bitch-boy had to cheat me out – he had to _humiliate_ me. He did…he did…something…"

There was definitely a difference in the Player Killer's tone, now; indeed, strange as it seemed, the brute seemed almost…fearful. Certainly his eyes had gone wide, as if recalling something horrific…but whatever it was, it did not appear as if Saiga would be hearing anything about it. Instead his kidnapper simply muttered, "But I came back. Yeah, he may've put me down once…but I came back. And I won't let it take me again, never…never again the darkness…_his_ darkness…"

A few silent beats passed before the Player Killer gave a great sigh and tossed Saiga to the ground. Quietly groaning under his breath, the former riding duelist took another look around at their surroundings and realized that, in fact, they _had_ arrived somewhere…though what that place was, he hadn't the slightest idea. They appeared to be at the mouth of a rather large cave, but the cuts in the rocks seemed far too polished to be natural. In any event, however, that was hardly this area's most distinctive feature; _that_ honor belonged to the enormous statue overlooking the "cave" entrance, of a massive dragon-like being with three heads.

"Your friend…the police guy, he's…like me," breathed the Player Killer, shaking Saiga out of his awed observation of the statue. "Or he _was_, anyway. I can see it in his eyes, every time."

"Police guy"? Saiga assumed he meant Ushio, which brought up another point of uncertainty – the last thing he had seen before being knocked unconscious was Crow, Ushio, and Mikage quite literally bursting into the warehouse, which presumably meant that they had been near when _this_ bastard has abducted him. So what, then, had happened to the others? And to those poor kids, for that matter…

"It's why I _gotta_ kill him…though shootin' me didn't help his chances," spat the Player Killer scornfully, before his mouth curled into a truly twisted grin. "He got free of it…somehow, someway, he fucking got _free_ of it! It's not fucking fair…but I'm gonna fix that, soon enough. Just gotta wait, and then…then I can kill him…and _I'll_ be free…_free_…"

The fact that the Player Killer of Darkness fell asleep here presented few tangible benefits on Saiga's part, excepting of course the thankful prospect of no longer having to listen to his captor constantly whine about his woeful life. Unfortunately, the ropes holding him were so thoroughly bound – and this terrain so unfamiliar – that escape was pretty much a complete nonstarter. So instead, Saiga forced himself to be content with squirming a bit farther inside the cave, locating a relatively snow-free patch of rock, and attempting to gain some much-needed respite as well.

…Meanwhile, however, at the top of the statue that represented the Dragon Goddess Trishula, a pair of incomprehensively mighty spirits were wide-awake and conversing animatedly, their mutual gazes turned toward the raging psychopath who had yet again asserted his deep desire to murder the most recently awoken member of the Signers.

"Yes, I do appreciate how grave this situation is – I may even need to intervene down there personally, to pass along information if nothing else," one said thoughtfully. "But I trust Tetsu Ushio, strange as that concept might seem…and I have full confidence that he shall emerge from this victorious. You chose him well, my friend."

The Akaki Ryu, manifesting itself in its smaller form of the Savior Dragon in order to avoid drawing undue attention, considered these words for a moment before coming as close as a God could to nodding in agreement. Then as quickly as it had emerged in this particular dimension, it dissipated, leaving the other soul alone to stare ponderously down at the second Child of the Feather and consider his next move.

[-]

"Hey, Dojima, how's our food supply?" called out Uryu Tanaka, before lighting up a cigarette and taking a deep puff.

Shizaki Katou, who was nearest, coughed vigorously right in the middle of his trademark mocking laugh, whereas Dojima Yamamoto dutifully headed over to the small cupboard that was informally serving as their communal food source. "Eh, looks like enough for about three more days, boss," Dojima answered regrettably. "One of us is gonna have to make a run at some point this week."

"Great…just great…" Uryu mumbled, sighing deeply and continuing to smoke, much to the discomfort of his provisional roommates.

This had been a…strange week, by all reasonable standards, and Uryu was quite eager for it to get the Hell over already. Hanging out inside a giant spider, contrary to what he might have thought as a bug-obsessed young boy, hadn't exactly been a whole lotta fun; nor had being overrun by a swarm of bloodthirsty zombies almost immediately afterward, for that matter. Dojima's house had been the only one of the trio's outside of what he had decided to dub the "death zone," so at very least they had somewhere passable to stay for these last couple nights, but…well, this wasn't exactly the kind of thing he was equipped to deal with on a daily basis.

"Shi-shi-shi…shiiiiiii…" squeaked Shizaki, apparently concurring with Uryu's exasperation; it was hard to tell sometimes, of course.

"You said it, buddy," grumbled Dojima, grabbing a couple cups of ramen for the trio to share for dinner. He dropped them almost immediately, however, as a sharp stinging sensation erupted upon his cheek, causing him to wince and swear in pain.

"The Hell's wrong with you, Dojima?" Uryu demanded, irritably moving to pick up the fallen noodles. "That's like the fifth time today you've done something like that."

"My marker's actin' up, alright?" Dojima bellowed defensively, still scratching at the spot in question. "I dunno why, but it is. Not like any of us _really_ understand how these stupid things work."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Probably just a glitch in their computers or something," admitted Uryu. There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence following this, as each man picked up chopsticks with shaking hands and began consuming the noodles raw; there was, after all, no longer any electricity around here.

It was an…unsettling feeling to be so keenly aware of the prospect of their imminent deaths, to put it mildly. Again, this just wasn't _their_ thing; Uryu and his little crew worried about stuff like dueling, street-fights, and whatever girl was gonna make the centerfold in their next batch of "reading material." The end of all life on Earth was just a tad out of their scope.

"…Hey, if you could have one thing in the whole damn world right this second, what would ya pick?" Dojima asked after a few more moments of tension-laden silence. "Me, I could _really_ go for a cold, stiff one right now. Maybe even one of them fancy wines like they serve in the city…yeah, that'd be boss…"

Grateful for the momentary distraction, Uryu thought for a moment before grinning and answering, "I can top that. Two hot chicks, going at it right in front of us…ooh, I'd give up food for a week just to see _that_."

…Looking back years later, Uryu would conclude that this was certainly an instance where the aphorism "be careful what you wish for" applied in spades.

"Shi-shi-shi-_shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!_" Shizaki began to snicker, before shifting into a piercing shriek halfway through as a nearby wall exploded and thick dust covered the trio completely.

When some of the debris cleared, it became clear that the source of the detonation was a pair of highly attractive young women who were, indeed, "going at it" in one sense of the term…but this was hardly any sort of titillating catfight. Rather than pulling hair or pinning arms, these ladies – a scantily clad brunette and a busty redhead – were striking each other with blasts of fire or some weird purple energy stuff, or else pitching heavy objects at each other simply by pointing.

Uryu nearly crapped his pants right then-and-there, and judging by the incoherent babbling now coming from his friends, the reaction was fairly uniform.

Fortunately, the two ladies appeared to be so thoroughly engrossed in their brawl that neither was paying any attention to them; _unfortunately_, this wasn't in any way preventing them from decimating Dojima's house completely. Cracks were beginning to form in all the walls that hadn't already crumbled entirely, and the various support beams were all groaning unpleasantly as couches and chairs went sailing straight into them with the force of a steam train.

"Guys, out the backdoor, now!" Uryu frantically whispered, grabbing Dojima and Shizaki by the collar before they could respond and diving out of the house's last usable exit. Ensconcing themselves behind a large pile of rubble that had been blasted out of the wall and sent flying about ten meters away, the trio continued to watch in panicked awe as the building began to collapse completely, the two women paying it no heed as they continued to fight with the clear and present intention to kill.

"You got any idea what the fuck's going on, dude?" Dojima requested worriedly, to which Uryu merely shook his head.

…Once again, _way_ beyond their scope.

Some distance away, Carly Nagisa was trying her absolute hardest to snuff out the life of Aki Izayoi, but this unexpected burst of aggression and bloodlust on her opponent's part wasn't making that a particularly easy task. Psychic abilities might pale in comparison to the full range of a Dark Signer's powers, but Izayoi had clearly been honing hers for far longer, so their clash had so far remained fairly even. True, she had the advantage of long-term stamina, being functionally immortal – but that didn't mean that she could afford to let down her guard for even a second. Many of Izayoi's techniques were just as deadly as hers, and she wasn't showing any signs of relenting anytime soon.

Admittedly, though, it was somewhat…strange. Carly might not have been a reporter any longer, but she _did_ still have the instincts of one, and it was impossible not to question Izayoi's sudden, 180º-shift in personality halfway through their "conversation." Earlier the witch had been oddly, if welcomely, obsequious to Carly's strictures, but without any apparent stimulus the young woman was now matching her ferocity blow-for-blow. This was, of course, roughly how Carly had been _expecting_ this encounter to proceed, and yet…

_Oh please, My host. Obviously the Signer was merely trying to lull you into a false sense of security with lies of regret and sorrow. You are far too clever to fall for such pathetic tricks; she is the monster who killed Misty Lola, and monsters do not seek repentance._

Carly was desperate enough to accept this relatively simple explanation that only the slightest amount of the hummingbird's own power was required to allay her lingering doubts completely, and so with a great pulse of violet light within her eyes she utilized one of Misty's favorite standbys: an attack that caused its target to spontaneously combust in Hellfire. Unfortunately, she missed her initial target – Izayoi's heart and lungs – but not without consolation; the explosion of a nearby piece of brick wall that the psychic had been preparing to hurl at her sent her body flying at least ten meters away, the shrapnel leaving sharp gashes in her soft skin.

"Kill…_kill!_" screamed Aki Izayoi, barely appearing fazed by the devastating technique; with her hair disheveled and her clothing tattered all over, the woman looked quite deranged. "Need to avenge Divine…need to avenge Arcadia…need to _revive_ Arcadia! Die!_ Die for Divine!_"

Carly had been paying very little attention to her opponent's animalistic shrieks throughout their battle, overdramatic and incoherent as they often were, but the mention of the name "Divine" certainly managed to catch her attention…and certainly not in a good way. "_That_ impudent little mortal? You dare to invoke _his_ name against me?" Carly retorted, grappling with the other woman's potent telekinesis as she struggled to avoid being crushed by what felt like an enormous invisible fist. "His sins may pale in comparison to yours, Izayoi, but nonetheless my King delivered unto him what he deserved. I crushed him and his pathetic Movement _once_ following my murder, and should you force me to I shall do it again!"

Aki merely growled menacingly at these lies – for how could they be otherwise when they spoke unfavorably of Divine, her unquestioned Lord and Master? – and, dispensing of the long-distance use of her powers for the moment, tackled Carly Nagisa to the ground personally. What followed was a heretofore unmatched physical onslaught, the two women trading physical punches and kicks and whatever else came to mind as they flew across the street in a rolling heap, each blow enhanced to well-beyond the maximum potential of a normal human by way of their respective powers.

"What on Earth is going on here?" cried out Martha Okasama, the first of the very few residents remaining on the abandoned block to exit the safety of their homes and investigate the source of the chaos; however, like the still-quivering trio of petty thieves before her, the main combatants paid the matron absolutely no attention.

The same, however, could not be said of the reverse.

"Aki-chan, who is this? What are you doing?" Martha demanded, rushing over to Aki as the two combatants were forcibly separated by a violent explosion of dark energy. The younger woman, however, immediately slapped away her concerned hand and hissed lividly, before diving straight back at Carly.

Supercharged as her psychic abilities currently were, this aggressive brush-off sent Martha sprawling to the ground, her hand bleeding slightly from the point where Aki's powers had struck her. Seconds later she was being helped up by Zora and Rally's group, all of whom had followed her to check out the situation, but the sudden presence of five more individuals on the ruined street still failed to distract either Aki or Carly from their increasingly bloody conflict. Spurts of crimson and amethyst began to stain the streets as Aki appeared to lose all semblance of her higher brain functions in favor of a bestial fury, and Carly followed suit at the subtle urgings of her God. Several of the onlookers gasped and Zora Laruto outright screamed in terror, but the pair had eyes only for each other.

"That's…that's gotta be one of those Dark Signer people…" Blitz Kozaki nervously observed, which was more than anyone else could squeak out at that particular moment; the sight of the two women fighting tooth-and-nail was simultaneously awe-inspiring and sickeningly gruesome, and in the face of it the only thing the four guys could think to do was drag Zora and Martha back across their new base's threshold. The former came quietly – looking for all the world as if she was seconds away from fainting – but the latter appeared to be struggling hard to get back to Aki, with little concern for her personal safety.

"Look, Martha-sama, I know you wanna help…but I don't think any of us are capable of breaking this one up," grunted Rally Dawson, clenching his lip as Aki struck an excruciating blow to her opponent's left eye, and while the wound itself sealed up almost instantly the resulting screech of pain was thoroughly unnerving.

"No…but _I_ can," thundered a deep and regal voice, and instinctively everyone present on that street turned their heads skyward, just in time to observe a winged figure descend to the ground and stand firm between Aki Izayoi and Carly Nagisa.

"Wicked cool…" murmured Uryu from within his hiding place, though no one but his friends paid him any attention; all gazes were now directed solely at the looming form of the Dark King.

"Jack…" Martha whispered, fighting off the slackened grips of the others to stand upright, only several meters away from her most wayward of sons. "Jack…it's you…"

"I have no time to exchange pleasantries," Jack stated shortly, before turning to Carly and Aki, whose fight appeared to have stalled only out of sheer shock at his sudden presence. "Explain yourself, my Queen. I thought that we had agreed to save your vendetta against Izayoi for the duels to come."

Only Carly would have been able to discern the fear and worry on her behalf buried beneath the reprimand, but though she recognized and appreciated his concern she was nevertheless not in the mood to hear this sort of thing. "You may be saving your climactic clash with Yusei Fudo for the dueling field, my love, but I made no such compact," she said coldly. "Now, stand aside; it is time for me to finish what I have started, and tear this filthy Signer asunder!"

"I'm afraid that I cannot allow that, Carly," declared Jack, his wings spread magnanimously to shield the Signer and Dark Signer from each others' views. "Look at yourself – even immortals such as ourselves are not invincible. This is not a fight that you can win outright, my Dark Queen, and so I implore you to wait."

"…Is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" Taka Fujita muttered as an aside to his friends. "Or did Jack just show up, with freaking _wings_, and call that crazy chick his girlfriend?"

"Wife, actually," Jack corrected him without looking over, and Taka winced once he realized that he'd been overheard. "But that is neither here nor there. Come Carly, we are returning home."

"_No!_" both Carly and Aki shouted in unison, the shrillness of each others' voices seeming to goad them both into attempting to bypass Jack and grapple once more. After a few seconds of fruitless struggle, the former added with a deep snarl, "I _will_ have my vengeance, my beloved, and I refuse to be stopped! Not even by you!"

The blast was sudden, and it was painful; his shoulder and chest muscles were sore enough from the continuous flight without adding severe burn marks directly to the wing-joints. The momentary distraction was apparently enough for Aki to finally break through and assail her attacker, though Carly instinctually turned that momentum against her by flipping the psychic over her head, sending another concentrated burst of dark energy straight after her flying form for good measure.

"Did you…really have to do that?" Jack grunted once Aki had landed a good distance away. Receiving no response from the still-seething Dark Queen, he sighed deeply and finally added, "Fine. We'll finish her, _together_, and then return to the palace."

"_No!_" echoed, not either of the young women who, as Aki began to slowly recover from that last blow, were staring daggers at one another…but Martha, who had finally broken from her former charges' grasps in all the confusion. Interposing herself between the Dark Signers and the downed psychic, she spread her arms and, though she was clearly trembling from head-to-toe, stood her ground against them both.

"I don't know a lot of what's going on here, Jack," she uttered with the full force of her conviction. "I don't know, except in the most basic terms, what has happened to make you…this way. I don't know who this woman is that you now call your wife. I don't know what in the world has gotten Aki-chan into this state, nor why your 'Carly' wishes to kill her. But I do know this: that I'm not letting this go forward any further. You are stopping this, _now._"

"Impudent mortal!" Carly growled, a rough tinge that was not quite her own lingering upon the edge of her tones. "You _dare_ to try and lay orders upon your King? Once Aki Izayoi's head sits upon a pike, I'll make yours join it!"

Already she was starting toward Martha with her fingertips glowing dangerously, though before she could take more than a couple steps forward Jack had extended his wings and once more blocked her progression. Rather than attempt to fruitlessly argue the point anew, he then grasped Martha around the waist and, ignoring her panicked protests, took flight.

And of course, the moment that the Dark King departed from the scene, the battle between Carly Nagisa and Aki Izayoi resumed without any loss of momentum, each of the various onlookers forced to watch helplessly as cars and buildings were reduced to burning rubble in the wake of each woman's unending onslaught.

[-]

It hadn't taken long for Judai Yuki to locate his old friend, really; much had changed over the years, but for as long as he lived Judai was certain that Jun Manjoume would always be partial to brooding on rooftops.

Manjoume made no acknowledgement of Judai's presence, other than a miniscule turn of the head, so taking note of this cue the former Osiris Red student copied his counterpart's stance, laying across the well-kept shingles of Sho's home and staring up at the starry sky from which his powers were drawn.

"…You're not going to be leaving without me, are you?" the black-coated duelist asked dryly after several idle moments. It was clear from the timbre of his voice that he had been crying up here for some length of time, though Judai did not comment on it, and while he wasn't about to address it either he could tell that Manjoume appreciated his relative tact.

"I'll leave if and when you tell me to leave," Judai insisted. "But if you need a listening ear, away from…everyone…then I'm here."

Another couple beats passed before Manjoume began chuckling humorlessly, still fixing his gaze resolutely upon the night skies rather than his old dueling rival. "Over twenty years and enough power jumps that you're pretty much a walking God, and yet you're still the same idiot you always were," he remarked with a long sigh. "Don't know whether that makes me feel happy or very, very sad."

"Hey, gimme _some_ credit," Judai responded in mock-affront. "At least I'm not singing a song parody with slightly twinged lyrics to try and lift your spirits up, which I was seriously considering doing on the way up here. Though if I'm entirely wrong and you actually _are_ open to that sort of thing, I'm pretty proud of how 'Hey Jun' turned out."

"Hey…Jun?" Manjoume repeated, an eyebrow raised. "Okay, now I've gotta ask…"

"You know, like 'Hey Jude' – the Beatles song," explained Judai, mirroring the facial gesture. "Don't go telling me you've never heard it."

"I've heard _of_ the Beatles; can't say I've listened to much of their music outright," Jun replied nonchalantly. "English music is more Fubuki's thing."

"Well then, I sure as Hell know what we're gonna be doing once all this crap is over with," Judai asserted with a small chuckle. "Speaking of which…"

"Yeah, can we stop beating around the damn bush?" Manjoume retorted, his hands tightening around his face. "Fact is, I shouldn't have run out in the middle of your speech, and I'm sorry for that. But…well, the way you kept dancing around the concept of Duel Spirits in half those freaking stories…I guess that last one was just the straw that broke the camel's back."

"Are…are any of them still…?" Judai asked carefully.

"Only the original three," Manjoume reflected in hollow tones, flashing the yellowish cards representing the Ojama Brothers and bringing forth their spirit-forms, which rested wearily upon their master's shoulders. Tentatively Judai reached for Ojama Yellow with one finger, which the tiny creature enthusiastically embraced, apparently quite glad to be back in the company of someone else who could see him in this state. Black and Green merely gave curt nods in turn, occupied as they were; the latter's mouth and nose appeared to have been grotesquely mutilated in the midst of the battle, while the former was busy holding his brother steady as they both perched precariously on Manjoume's duster. "So many dead…" the duelist muttered as he gazed upon the trio. "I…failed them all…"

"You know there's nothing you could've done," Judai attempted to console him, placing a hand next to Ojama Yellow on his old friend's shoulder. He took it as a promising sign that Manjoume didn't immediately throw it off. "The Coisichean are _deadly_, and the King of the Underworld has been itching to wreak some real havoc for at least five millennia. Honestly, you should be proud that you managed to _prevent_ so many casualties; not many people could've pulled off what you did."

"This…is why I said you're the same idiot as always," breathed Jun, finally turning toward him and meeting his eyes. "And it wasn't an insult…at least, not entirely."

"Whadaya mean?" Judai questioned with a thoughtful frown.

"Here I am, feeling shittier than I've ever felt in my entire life, and then you just come up and say one, ridiculously simple thing…and yet somehow, I feel better," Manjoume related, now cradling the Ojama Trio in his hands with uncharacteristic tenderness. "It's not something I like to admit. I'm not even sure _why_ it's true. But looking back, it's really always been that way with us…and though I'll pitch you off this rooftop if you share this with _anyone_, I've…missed it."

It was, Judai was fairly certain, the first genuine hug he had ever shared with Jun Manjoume, and though it was brief and the other man would surely deny that it'd ever happened to his deathbed, the experience was nonetheless quite gratifying. Necessary as it had been to depart from his friends' lives and traverse the Universe all those years ago, Judai still felt the occasional pang of guilt for that particular decision, and this proof that even his most outspoken critic did not begrudge him too heavily for leaving was worth more to him than anything.

Breaking away after several seconds, Manjoume shook his head somewhat embarrassedly before requesting, "Why don't we…change subjects for a bit? I know you've got to finish relaying your instructions to us, and I'll make sure to be there when you do…but I still need a few more minutes to prepare myself before going back down there."

"Alrighty…" said Judai, wracking his brain to try and come up with the best question out of so many with which to fill up this time – and hopefully, one that would allow them to steer clear of any further mention of Duel Spirits. Eventually, however, an idea lit up behind his eyes and he smiled mischievously. "So…_finally_ managed to wear her down, eh?"

As Judai had been calculating, Jun Manjoume immediately flushed deep scarlet at these words, to which the Supreme King elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "Go on, tell me everything," jibed Judai with a smirk. "I saw the wedding announcement a while back, but I don't know anything more than that; sorry I couldn't attend, but I kinda sorta had…other commitments at the time."

"What…_kind_ of 'other commitments' were these?" Manjoume couldn't help but ask, though he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Oh, just a little war of angels in the Realm of Light, if I remember correctly," Judai tossed off nonchalantly. "Trust me, you do _not_ wanna get on Christia's bad side, and unfortunately Zeus did. Something about sleeping with one of her handmaidens, if I remember correctly. Mount Olympus was a fucking wreck for _weeks_ after that."

"Err…right," uttered Manjoume, deciding that his earlier instinct had been correct. "So…uh, returning to the original topic…wait, what _was_ the original topic?"

"How you and Asuka finally got together and tied the knot," Judai answered, promptly and cheerfully.

"Well, for one thing, he was quite persistent," came a voice from a nearby window, and a second later the woman in question was climbing onto the rooftop herself and assuming the same pose as her husband and former best friend. "What?" she added, seeing Jun's look of surprise at her sudden appearance. "Did you honestly expect me to stay down there for long while you were up here suffering? Marriage is a two-way street in terms of comfort, in case no one's informed you."

"I'll…I'll be alright," Manjoume told her, though Judai was fairly certain that the kiss she placed upon him halfway through the word "alright" was helping matters in that regard. Judai, for his part, merely observed the couple with a mixture of bemusement and a strange sort of fraternal pride, and upon catching a glimpse of his old rival's satisfied grin Manjoume blushed even more brilliantly.

"So, should I ask Sho to carve out a room already?" Judai quipped with a low chuckle. "It's a _little_ early for bed, but…"

"Sh…Shut up!" stammered Manjoume as his wife's complexion rapidly grew to match his; Judai, of course, merely laughed harder.

"Heh heh heh. But back to business; you two aren't squirming out of this question _that_ easily," Judai appended once his mirth subsided. "Go on, spill."

"Err…there's not much to tell, really," Manjoume claimed adamantly, though his poker-face was bad enough that the evasiveness hardly seemed necessary. "I made sure to ask Asuka out every time we saw each other after graduation. Took a good year or so, but she finally said yes. End of story."

"Quite unlike his usual tenor, I would say my husband undersells the point," Asuka cut in, and the now visibly sheepish Manjoume seemed perfectly content to let her handle things from here. "Immediately after leaving Duel Academia, I was doing graduate work in America, while Jun was heading around the world on his first Pro-Circuit tour. And immediately following every single victory, he would pull something off to…get my attention."

"Like…?" Judai egged her onward, his expression both eager and supremely amused.

"Like hanging a giant picture of my face across the Eiffel Tower while he was in Paris," Asuka recalled, somewhat wistfully. "Or paying off some workers at a Chinese New Year festival in Beijing to spell out 'I love you, Asuka Tenjoin,' with fireworks…in seven different languages. Or this one time, when he was in Rio de Janeiro for a weekend…"

"Oh good God, don't tell him _that_ one!" Manjoume pleaded, looking rather quite mortified. His wife merely chuckled and gave a mock-sigh at this.

"Very well, if you're _that_ insistent," she replied teasingly. "I mean, I guess it _is_ a little risqué to talk about in public…though _you_ were the one who chose to do it in front of rolling television cameras."

Unsurprisingly, this information did little to reduce Judai's piqued interest, though as soon as he opened his mouth Manjoume cut across him with, "Remember that whole 'pitching you off the roof' thing? 'Cause that's still on the table."

"Fine, fine, I gotcha," Judai acquiesced. "Seriously, though, major props. I'm no good at those kinda big romantic displays; Hell, I even forgot our _anniversary_ last year. You both are very, _very_ lucky I was nine dimensions away from here on that day…because when Yubel says I'll never hear the end of something, she ain't exaggerating."

"Err…right," Asuka said awkwardly. "But anyway, I guess there's only so long a girl can hold out over _that_ level of attention. So once I had managed to work out a couple of my…own issues…"

"You mean your crush on me, yeah?" Judai interjected, leading Asuka to flush crimson and Jun's eyes to widen like a deer in headlights. His lip curling in amusement over these reactions, the former Osiris student then added, "Y'know, I'm not the same dumb teen who didn't know what the word 'fiancé' meant way back when. I _do_ get some of this stuff now."

"Whoa, whoa, back up here," Manjoume demanded. "Where's this coming from?"

Seeing that Asuka was now the one on the defensive, Judai spared her and attempted to explain it as best he could. "It was a silly school thing, dude; I was too stupid to recognize it for what it was then, and even if I had it wouldn't have made any difference," he related. "My heart's belonged to Yubel since birth, whether or not I consciously acknowledged it, and Asuka knew that too…but feelings don't always follow logic."

"He…understood me," Asuka admitted, her eyes averted from either man. Then, placing a reassuring hand upon her husband's, she went on, "But once I'd had enough time apart from you and him and the whole rest of the gang, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I'd been ignoring the fact that you did as well, in the face of your more overt…bombasticism."

Smiling warmly now, Asuka continued, "I've had guys asking me out since the second I hit puberty, and very few were at all subtle about why they'd suddenly fallen head-over-heels. You both were among the few who appreciated me for what _I_ cared about myself being – a strong duelist, and a good person. But Judai, I hope you'll take no offense when I say that you weren't exactly…the most reliable of sorts."

"Nope, not at all. I agree entirely," Judai affirmed brightly.

"So, comparing that to you, dear…well, sometime around you arranging for a symphony to be written and performed in my honor at the Sydney Opera House, I came to the epiphany that you would always be there whenever I needed you, no matter the circumstances," she shared, her hands shaking slightly. "And it was at that point that I realized that, while I _liked_ Judai and wished, at least in some small part, to know how things might've gone with him were a relationship possible…well, I _loved_ you."

Presumably Manjoume was, at minimum, satisfied with this explanation, because a moment later the two were kissing fiercely, with little-to-no regard for the continued presence of a very bemused Judai. He gave them a good twenty seconds or so before exaggeratingly clearing his throat, to which they both immediately snapped apart and stared in opposite directions.

"Alrighty, I think we've killed enough time here, but we _should_ really head down to rejoin the others," Judai asserted, hooking his arms around both his old friends' shoulders and lifting them up into standing positions. As he began to lead them back into Sho's home, however, Manjoume grabbed him forcibly and pulled him aside.

"Fess up, Judai. All this sappy relationship talk…it was just a way to get my mind off of everything else, wasn't it?" he murmured, too low for Asuka to hear.

"Did it work?" Judai whispered back, the boyish grin never leaving his face.

Manjoume didn't answer, but merely clapped his school-age rival on the arm and nodded a fraction of an inch; still, that was more than enough.

Certainly, it was the closest thing to a "thank-you" he would ever expect to get from Jun Manjoume.

[-]

Waking up was proving a rather laborious task for Crow Hogan.

For one thing, he hadn't the faintest idea of _where_ exactly he was waking up to begin with; this rough stone cot failed all the spot-checks his mind instinctively ran for familiar locations. Gradually, the lack of particularly striking features or amenities beyond a wall of steel bars gave him the distinct impression that he was in a prison, though not one that he'd ever resided in prior; Neo Domino's Security facility had at least possessed a few lights. But _this_ place…this place more closely resembled a dungeon from a fairy tale than anything else he could think of.

"Finally awake, I see," spoke a deep voice from the other side of the bars, and rather groggily Crow turned his head to the outside of his cell, where Samuel Bolger stood, rigidly and impassively.

"Bolger!" Crow exclaimed, shaking his head to rapidly rouse himself. "What's going on here? Where is this place? Tell me!"

"My, my, Crow Hogan…no need to be rude," replied the older man, without a trace of humor. "But to answer your questions, we are now located deep within my Master's fortress. I have chosen to take you as a prisoner of war."

"How in the Hell did I get here in the first place, anyway?" demanded Crow, his hands gripping the bars. "Last I remember, we were dueling, and then…"

Crow paused here as he wracked his brain for an answer to exactly _what_ had resulted from their pitched battle. He recalled, quite distinctly, the energetic climax of their duel, and had the intensely unnerving sense that he had been on the losing end by a fair margin…but after that, there was nothing. Concentrating on this apparent gap in his memory only made his head hurt, however, so he left the sentence dangling.

"That detail…is of no importance," Bolger asserted, though Crow knew the man well enough to recognize a bluff when he saw one. _Whatever_ had occurred after the businessman set up his field for a Synchro Summon, Bolger clearly knew as little about it as he did. "The key point is that you are now at the Dark King's mercy, Crow Hogan. When he returns to pass judgment, you shall _long_ for the Hellish streets of Satellite in comparison."

"Wait, Jack's not here?" cried out Crow. "Then where the fuck is he?"

"I shall not ask twice – cease from such vulgarity in these hallowed halls," Bolger admonished sternly. "And as for the Master's whereabouts…_that_ is none of your business, filthy Signer. He shall arrive here whensoever he chooses, and once he does I shall offer you as a trophy. Your fate will be decided then."

"Don't suppose I get a say in this, do I?" Crow deadpanned in a passable imitation of his trademark snarky tone, though his expression made it vividly clear that he would much rather be beating Bolger within an inch of his life than trading witticisms.

"Of course not," spat Bolger, sounding affronted. "The Dark King's will is the only one that matters. He speaks, and the _world_ acts. That is the wonderful thing about being within his service…he removes the everyday burdens of thought and choice, and leaves only peace."

"Leaves only _death,_ is more like it," Crow shot back.

"You are free to believe what you wish. No amount of cunning or clever wordplay will help you against the full fury of my Master," Bolger said dismissively, already turning to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, it is time to take my leave. You shall see me again when the Dark King makes his return, and no sooner."

"Wait, Bolger!" Crow shouted, and to his slight surprise the former CEO turned around.

"What is it, Crow Hogan? I will permit you only one last statement," he declared.

"…Pearson really meant _nothing_ to you, did he?" Crow whispered after a few moments' pause.

Bolger didn't directly respond, either verbally or nonverbally, so Crow had no way of knowing how well his barb had landed…but of course, he couldn't see the older man crush his glasses in his palm and punch a gaping hole in the wall the moment he turned the opposite corner.

[-]

"The council recognizes the Dance Princess, Maihime," decreed an older gentleman in thick, crystalline armor, and Ushio hastened to bow as everyone else in the court did likewise, not wanting to cause more of a stir than his presence was doing already.

The city of L'ad, it had turned out, had been less of a bustling metropolis and more of an organized arrangement of hundreds of private tents, but this central one – somewhat analogous to a combination of a city hall and a courtroom – was about as well-furnished as any genuine building Ushio had ever seen in Neo Domino…excepting, of course, that all of _these_ furnishings were carved out of pristine, bluish ice.

At the moment, the burly Security Officer was seated at a table and atop a chair that were similarly composed, and trying his damndest to keep his teeth from chattering. Presumably the various Duel Monsters lining the gallery walls to his immediate left and right had physiologies far more suited to this sort of environment, but that didn't make prolonged contact with this stuff any more palatable to his distinctly human constitution.

In any event, however, Ushio was doing his best to ignore the frigid temperature and instead focus upon the array of important-looking spirits lining the front of the chamber, as well as his rescuer as she slowly approached their high bench in order to speak. At its immediate center was the armored male who, based on raiment and stature, appeared to be the leader of this so-called "council;" to his right was a bald man with a stern face and a tattoo of a snowflake upon his brow, and to his left a mystical-looking fellow bedecked in long, flowing robes and brandishing a war fan made of crystal. A bearded, elderly gentleman in a blue-and-yellow sedge hat and a younger woman with enormous locks of emerald hair rounded out the line-up on either side.

"Thank you, father," Maihime pronounced, and Ushio did a double-take at this minor revelation; still, with a title like Dance _Princess_, he supposed he shouldn't really have been surprised. "Generals Grunard, Gantara, and Raiho…exalted High Priests Dai-sōjō and Kōreishi…I come to your most illustrious council bearing with me a pilgrim from the First Dimension – a human, Tetsu Ushio."

To this there was a general intake of breath across the gallery, as apparently not every spirit there had realized until now that Ushio wasn't merely an exceptionally plain-looking Duel Monster. He distinctly heard at least one member of the crowd exclaiming in shock, "A human? But I thought they were just a myth, like dodo birds!" to which he was being corrected by a blue-robed figure whom Ushio recognized as the spirit who had first welcomed him to their city.

The one whom Maihime had addressed as General Grunard held aloft a glowing staff, however, and within an instant the din had died away completely. "Would you like to explain your actions, daughter?" he demanded, and Ushio could distinctly hear the stern authority fighting against the familial softness in his tone now. "You know well that it is expressly forbidden for an extradimensional being to step forth in L'ad. I hope that you have good reason for breaching our tribe's official neutrality."

"I do, father," Maihime responded, and though her voice quivered at these proclamations she remained resolute at her podium. "Tetsu Ushio was lying unconscious in the snowbanks just outside the Jää region, but what truly drew me to him was a glowing crimson light that radiated from his very core. Tetsu Ushio, please show the council your forearm."

The Security Officer, unsure of what was really going on here, unquestioningly obliged, and the eyes of the generals simultaneously widened at the sight of the Akaki Ryu's tail.

"You see, elders?" the Dance Princess declared triumphantly. "This human has been touched by the grace of the Crimson Dragon, a God whose power vastly transcends the mortal bounds of whatever transient statutes or laws we might enact. Clearly, he is here for a purpose! High Priestess Kōreishi, you foretold his arrival, did you not?"

"I foretold a burst of crimson starlight, but no more than that," spoke the green-haired medium, her voice echoing ethereally throughout the chamber. "Whether this human has anything to do with my vision, I cannot say."

"It certainly is a…curious case," Grunard mused, the tip of his staff pulsing low. "Does the council wish to offer up any further opinions?"

"I would like to ask the human a question, if nothing else," answered the bald spirit – Gantara, Ushio was pretty sure he'd been called – in deep, rumbling tones. "How did you come to be in our world, Tetsu Ushio? It was this council's understanding until just this day that residents of the First Dimension, such as yourself, were entirely unaware of the existence of the Ice Boundary."

All eyes in the hall (except for the prophetess', which remained distant and unfocused) turned expectantly toward Ushio at this remark, and the Security Officer swallowed audibly at the sudden pressure. Clearing his throat somewhat awkwardly, he responded as best he could, "For the most part, sir, that is correct. We, uh, don't really know of _any_ intelligent life outside of Earth, to be honest. At least, the majority of us."

Sweating under the intense scrutiny – or at least he would be, were the current temperature anywhere above freezing – Ushio nervously went on, "But you see, the thing is, all of you guys are…well, kinda like fictional characters on my world. Beasts and beings represented in a popular card game that we humans play for entertainment."

Yet another uproar was triggered by this latest revelation, and shouts of aspersion and doubt rained down from the gallery. He supposed he could've worded that last bit a little better, but he really wasn't much of a public speaker; still, he didn't seem to have won himself any fans just now…

"That is a rather…inflammatory statement you have just made, Tetsu Ushio," said the last General, the elegantly robed Raiho. His voice and features were a fair bit softer and younger than his fellows', however, which brought Ushio some small measure of hope. "I trust you have some sort of proof to back up such an apparently ridiculous claim?"

There was something of a strangeness in the way the General had asked that, but Ushio did not dwell on it as he dutifully pulled his standard-issue Security deck out of his pocket and flipped over the top card: _Goyo Guardian_. Holding it at arm's length for all to see, the brawny Officer gulped as the chamber murmured animatedly once more, before Grunard once again silenced the gallery with a gesture and turned back to Ushio. "An…interesting piece of evidence, I must admit," he proclaimed impassively. "Certainly, it requires further study. Royal Knight, please confiscate those artifacts immediately."

"Hey, what giv-…" Ushio began to protest, but he stopped short the moment that he saw who exactly General Grunard had been referring to. The Royal Knight, it turned out, was about twice his height and nearly three times as broad, sheathed in magnificently intricate armor and wielding an ice-lance that looked large enough to spear out his heart, lungs, and stomach with one thrust. Without speaking the knight held out an expectant gauntlet, and failing to come up with any further words in his presence Ushio reluctantly surrendered all but one of the cards he currently owned; all things considered, he figured now that it was best the council not learn of _Stardust Dragon_.

Taking the deck from the Royal Knight and setting it aside, Grunard then added, "Now, you never truly answered General Gantara's question, Tetsu Ushio. What does this 'card game' you speak of have to do with how you came to reside in our world?"

"Well, uh…I mean, that's proof that _something_ from the Spirit World has been seeping into ours, right?" Ushio argued, though not entirely forcefully. "I won't pretend to know most of the details, but I know that some people – not a whole lot, but _some_ – actually _are_ aware of dimensions like yours. And they've gotta be able to reach over into them occasionally, or vice-versa…otherwise the existence of _thousands_ of cards like those doesn't make a lick of sense. It can't be a coincidence."

"So you are saying that a select few members of your kind can contact or even enter the Spirit Worlds?" General Raiho posed with evident interest.

"I've seen it, several times," confirmed Ushio, now feeling a little more confident; while he was getting either mildly hostile or decidedly neutral vibes from the remainder of the council, this youngest member seemed far more amenable to his pleas. "And of course, my presence here is living proof. An enemy has taken power in my own world, and one of his minions created a portal that he used to escape with a…friend of mine. I had no idea where it would lead; it just ended up spitting me out here. And now, all I want is to find my friend and get home."

"Explain this last part in more detail," whispered the High Priest Dai-sōjō in a low rasp, breaking his long silence at last. "If we are to accept the Princess' claim that you are an agent of the almighty Crimson Dragon, then who amongst the human world would qualify as your 'enemy'?"

"It's a…long story," Ushio replied carefully. "One thing I think you've gotta understand is that I'm kinda, well, new at this whole thing. I only got this mark on my arm last night, and if you'd asked me a week ago whether or not magic and spirits existed I would've said 'Hell no!' So suffice it to say, I'm still learning a lot about what it really means to be a Signer, and all that entails."

Watching the wizened gentleman stroke his beard thoughtfully, Ushio clenched the ice-table and continued, "But I do know that lately, in my home city, some really strange stuff has begun to take place. Have any of you ever heard of those…whatchamacall'em…Earthground Gods? No, wait, Earth-_bound_ Gods. 'Cause we've had a ton of 'em back home lately."

The deathly silence that permeated the air at this question, and the stunned expressions across the various spirits' faces, indicated that they very much had. Finally, Grunard broke the stillness by clearing his throat and answering, "The council is…aware of their existence. So the Jibakushin themselves are your enemies in the human realm? I should be surprised, then, if your society remains standing."

"It _is_ definitely a mess back there," Ushio disclosed with a shiver. "But it's not all bad. Hell, we've managed to kill…well, most of 'em, I think. I'm not entirely sure what the total number really is…"

"Hold!" shouted Gantara as the general hubbub burst back to life in full force. "You mean to claim that you have _slain_ some of the Earthbound Gods? Ludicrous!"

"Well, not _me_ personally…like I said, I'm pretty new to the gig," insisted the Security Officer. "But yeah, my friends and allies back on Earth have been killing them left-and-right for the last few days. I even saw a couple die personally – not even gonna try to pronounce their names, but the ones that looked like giant spiders and monkeys at least. See…the thing is, when they come to Earth they become cards too, just like the ones I showed you guys. And that means they can be destroyed like any other card."

"Interesting…very, _very_ interesting…" muttered General Grunard, sounding not altogether convinced but also somewhat intrigued. Then, raising his voice to ring across the entire court, he cried out, "Much peculiar evidence and testimony has been presented to this council. We require several minutes of silence while we deliberate upon the human's words."

At this Maihime bowed once again, as did Ushio a moment later, before the five elder members opened up a passageway in the ice-wall behind them and departed for what were presumably private chambers. Shivering as the Dance Princess returned to the seat beside him, he whispered aside to her, "How do you think it went?"

"I am…unsure," she responded in a low voice, her nervous tic of twirling her ice-wheels acting up once again. "The council has not had to deal with a breach of our isolation statutes in over seventy moons, and never before has a human been the subject of such a case. I had thought that your obvious status as an avatar of the Akaki Ryu would be plenty sufficient for our argument, but evidently I…miscalculated."

"How exactly does your justice system work, anyway?" Ushio found himself asking. "I mean, how severe an offense am I perpetrating by simply being here, exactly?"

"It is no small matter, I can assure you of that much," Maihime warned him, sounding rather grave. "The higher orders of Duel Spirits – angels on one side, and demons on the other, alongside with whatever might be the ascendant third faction of the day – are constantly at-war with one another, or even within their own ranks; as such, the tribes of the Ice Boundary hold our official neutrality to be of the utmost importance. The maximum penalty for otherworldly trespassers is, well…"

She did not complete the sentence, but it was fairly clear what the next word would be.

"And if I _did_ manage to make a halfway decent case?" Ushio pressed on, his tone begging for at least a shred or two of better news.

"I cannot say; there…is no precedent for it," Maihime admitted in a small voice, looking resolutely downward as she did.

"Then why did you bring me here in the first place?" Ushio demanded heatedly, once his mind had processed exactly what that response implied.

"I was under the impression that High Priestess Kōreishi would be far more helpful to our cause than she turned out to be," she explained with a shake of her head. "I remain firmly convinced that the burst of crimson energy she foretold, destined to touch down on our blighted land and bring life to it, represented your arrival…but unless we can convince _her_ of that, she will not vouch for us. And since getting High Priest Dai-sōjō or General Gantara to change their minds is about as easy as killing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a pair of knitting needles, we don't have much choice otherwise."

"What about the other two Generals? Raiho and Gru…err, your father?" Ushio pleaded, not liking the sound of where this was going one bit. Suddenly the silent wall behind which the council was now doubtlessly arguing the facts in this makeshift court case seemed quite a bit more ominous.

"Father…can be trusted to fall upon whichever side claims a majority. The position of Head of Council rotates regularly, so when he has that power he's always careful to avoid any decision that might look like he's stepping out of bounds," Maihime said, her uneven tone indicating that she wasn't really sure whether or not she preferred it that way. "And Raiho, well…" and here she actually blushed, though the tinge was slightly bluish rather than pink, "I guess you could just say that he's _definitely_ on our side here. And let's just leave it at that."

Ushio was about to question this last statement, but was interrupted rather abruptly by the passageway in the rear wall sliding open once more. "Damn, _that_ was fast…" Ushio murmured under his breath as he briefly prostrated himself for a third time.

"The council has reached a majority verdict on the fate of the human Tetsu Ushio, by vote of three in favor, one opposed, and one abstention," General Grunard read out from a short piece of parchment that was – unsurprisingly, if somewhat surreally – made of an ice-like material as well. "The verdict is as follows: guilty on all charges of violating Ice Boundary dimensional sovereignty. As questions remain as to his intent, however, his sentence shall be pending. Until then the human is to be held in detention. By the blessings of Trishula, this court is adjourned."

"Hey, I can't…" Ushio started to protest, but the Royal Knight silently interrupted him by grasping his arms and roughly forcing them behind his back, holding him in place as most of the gathered spirits began to file out of the chamber.

"Please, you must reconsider!" yelled Maihime, abandoning protocol and taking hold of her father's hands. "It is not his fault that he came to be here, father!"

"That…remains to be determined," stated Grunard, his expression inscrutable. "Further research is necessary to determine whether or not there is veracity to the human's claims. These…artifacts should prove enlightening on that subject, I hope." And here he held up Ushio's confiscated deck, now sealed in a transparent crystal coffer for safekeeping.

"But he…I mean, I…" Maihime attempted to argue further, fumbling over her words in her state of intense anxiety.

"Enough," interjected Grunard, his face now stern and impatient. "The council has spoken. _Goodbye,_ daughter."

And with that he turned around and attempted to follow his peers out of the hall, but the Dance Princess refused to let go. "Arghhh…it's always the _same_ with you!" she screamed, frozen tears accumulating across her cheeks. "This is why mother left, you know! You get so wrapped up in your precious 'duty' that you don't even _listen_ to the people around you! Not even your own kin!"

General Grunard's expression remained impassive as his increasingly hysteric progeny beat her fists against his armor, and it was without looking directly at her that he eventually mumbled, "You…do not understand, my daughter. The fate of the human was my concession to the council; the only viable alternative to Gantara's initial proposal…"

"Which was _what,_ exactly?" Maihime shot back.

"You brought him willingly into our village, Dance Princess. You of all monsters should know that the potential penalty for such an infraction…is just a step below that faced by the trespasser himself," pointed out General Raiho, who had rather abruptly returned to the chamber. "Gantara and Dai-sōjō were quite adamant that you share the same fate as your companion…for fairness' sake, they said. Your father pardoned you, but their price for accepting it was his unambiguous support for Tetsu Ushio's present sentence."

A few uncomfortably silent beats passed in the wake of this divulgence, before Grunard bit his lip and turned away again. "I really must be going," he said loudly, his back turned to the others. "General Raiho, would you mind terribly escorting the Royal Knight and his…charge to a holding cell?"

"Of course sir, of course. I have business of my own to conduct around here, in fact," Raiho returned brightly, waiting for the older general to finally depart before planting a deep, sensuous kiss on the Dance Princess' lips. Grinning bemusedly at the Royal Knight's unflappable staidness and Ushio's raised eyebrows, he then added with a wink, "Alright, let's get you to that cell. Jailbreak'll be at…oh, just past sunset or so."

"Err…_what_ just happened here?" questioned Ushio, his face still contorted in total bewilderment. Quite a few contradictory events had just occurred in quick succession, and his brain wasn't having the easiest time processing their sum total.

"Need I spell it out for you?" Raiho jibed with a good-natured punch to the ribs, his other arm still wrapped firmly around Maihime's waist. "I tried to get your sentence commuted, Tetsu Ushio, I really did…but the council's loaded up with far too many senile old fools to listen to reason. So we'll just handle this the old-fashioned way and spring you once night falls."

"Should we really be discussing this around…uhh…?" Maihime whispered aside to him, jerking her head toward the Royal Knight still holding Ushio firmly in place. General Raiho, however, merely chuckled merrily.

"Don't worry, he's on the take," he assured her, extracting a reddish crystal from his pocket and handing it over to the armored warrior to demonstrate. "He knows to look the other way when I…request it, right buddy?"

The Royal Knight slowly nodded as he pocketed the gemstone, still remaining entirely silent.

"Then let's head off, shall we?" suggested Raiho, detaching himself from the Dance Princess and assuming a more dignified walk at the head of the procession.

"Gotta say, this…wasn't what I was expecting when you took me over here," Ushio murmured to Maihime, who was bringing up the rear. The streets here were largely deserted – clearly, the path to the village's prison wasn't walked all that often – but he figured it would still probably not do to be overheard.

"Neither did I, Tetsu Ushio," she replied softly. "And I am truly sorry for that. But…just trust Raiho, alright? He's never let me down before."

The remainder of their short journey passed without another word, which suited Ushio fine; the whirlwind of events that had just taken place were still in the middle of being processed by his brain, and as of now he really wasn't sure he could take any further…complications.

[-]

"You know there's no way in Hell we can keep this up forever, right?" shouted Andore Porthos, pressing a button to send another concentrated surge of electricity into the crowd of zombies and scattering the ones not instantly vaporized by the blast.

"And _you_ know we don't have a fucking choice, _right?_" shot back Jean Aramis, mimicking his partner's actions on the opposite flank. That part was key – Taro's group was busy making repairs to the security and weapons systems that had been damaged in the monsters' attack on the main generator, and given that they were each armed with little more than a few steel pipes, he and Andore needed to keep the undead off their backs with perfect and constant precision.

"Just watch your rear better, okay? I can't stay on top of it forever," Andore retorted as he disintegrated another creature that, indeed, had been sneaking up on Jean's general position from behind. "Err…wait, that came out wrong…but you know what I mean!"

"Business before pleasure and all that, darling," Jean said pointedly, briefly lifting one leg from off his motorcycle in order to sideswipe another incoming crowd. "I mean, I'm totally up for a couple hours' worth of hot comfort sex after this, but getting killed here would sorta preclude that."

"…_God_ I love you," Andore replied, the pause coming from a mix of needing to process Jean's comment as well as pulling off a wheelie in order to knock off a zombie that had grabbed hold of his front wheel.

Meanwhile, Taro Yamashita, Yoshizo Hayashi, and Jinbei Tanigawa were doing their best to ignore the ridiculous amounts of chaos surrounding them as they applied power tools and spare parts to a wide array of machinery.

Compared to _most_ of the people from their old village, Taro wagered that they were all fairly tech-savvy, but that didn't necessarily translate into being able to handle _this_ level of engineering. Still, for all they knew, they were all this City – and maybe even the world – had right now. So in dignified silence, broken only when one of the trio needed some quick assistance from the others, they kept at it.

But that was easier said than done, of course. There were only five of them, after all, and well over several hundred zombies all around the area; the _only_ reason they weren't dead by this point, really, was that _Always'_ unusual shape funneled the creatures in such a way that they couldn't swarm the area around the generator in groups of more than four or so. As such, the motorcycle-riding duo was able to pick them off for the most part, so long as they kept in constant motion; Jinbei was forced to pummel the few isolated wraiths that made it through the cracks in their formation, but at least they had so far managed to avoid any casualties or heavy injuries. Still, at the rate the monsters were flooding in…it seemed only a matter of time.

Perhaps it was inevitable – even with this two-tiered defense, these legions of the undead were relentless in their procession, and so eventually one did make it through, lunging at Taro and Yoshizo with a bestial roar. Time seemed to slow down for Andore, Jean, and Jinbei as they each grappled with a handful of their own zombies, and Jinbei's scream of horror sounded in unison with his close friends', shrill and anguished as both of them were seized by the throat.

…But before the terrifying sound of cracking bone that the others were dreading could be heard, the ghoul had already dropped its quarry, and collapsed to its knees with its fleshy skull smashed in completely. Looking upward for their savior, the culprit soon became quite clear to the young country teens: the gleaming, silvery coffee tray wielded by Stephanie Bloomsdale.

"I've…uh, got a message from Breo!" she announced loudly, quite visibly shocked at her own daring. "That lightning stuff doesn't work on them because of the electricity; it works because it's made out of Momentum! And that means other stuff that comes from Momentum works just as well – like Duel Disk holograms!"

"Wait, are you _serious?_" Andore demanded as he made another sweep near their position, apparently unsure whether he should be elated or supremely doubtful.

"Well, it worked on Reggie!" Stephanie yelled out, and that was apparently enough for the redhead to laugh triumphantly and give her tip a shot.

"Alright, here goes nothing…galloping in heavens like thunder, crisscrossing them like a mighty gale, appear forth from the world of myth and legend! Synchro Summon! Neigh, _Thunder Unicorn!_" Andore cried dramatically, slamming the equine onto his D-Wheel with appropriate force.

"Was the _entire_ Synchro Chant really necessary?" Jean asked, to which his partner only grinned.

"Oh, _always_," he quipped, apparently quite amused by his little pun. "Now _Thunder Unicorn_, let's see what this baby can do…Thunder Spear!"

Jean wasn't entirely sure _what_ he was expecting, but certainly he hadn't been prepared for what occurred next: not only did the virtual lightning blast eviscerate the zombies just as effectively as their own, but mere _contact_ with the Solid Vision quadruped seemed to be having precisely the same effect. Where there had previously been at least twenty or so wraiths there were now none…and that had just been _one_ attack.

"Well, I guess if it works, it works!" Jean called out with a shrug, choosing to forgo the Chant as he played his own ace monster. "Lightning Tricorn, go! _Lightning Javelin!_"

Perhaps it was simply fatigue, but it almost seemed as if the tide of the battle was turning…albeit, for now. Still, as the two mythological beasts galloped across the battlefield with their horns reared, firing constant streams of electricity that eradicated every monster in their paths, it was hard not to feel a little hopeful.

…Particularly when Jinbei drew his own Duel Disk, and the two former members of Team Unicorn realized exactly what he was intending to do.

"If we're not giving a crap about game rules and summoning requirements right now, then I think I've got just the ticket," he declared smugly. "Because if these bastards die on contact with holograms, then no one can go toe-to-toe with the Common Man's God! I bring forth…"

But Jinbei did not get a chance to finish his summoning declaration, because at that moment a tight leather whip wrapped around his arm, forcing his Duel Disk to clatter to the ground.

"I'm not entirely sure what you idiots are up to, but I don't like it," hissed the whip's wielder – a young, dark-skinned woman clad scantily in what looked like silk. At her side was a well-toned male with a black goatee and a criminal mark, who sneered cruelly as enormous numbers of fresh zombies surrounded them like bodyguards. Clearly, the "intelligence" behind this attack – the duo that had spoken to them telepathically back when everything had started going to Hell – had finally chosen to reveal themselves.

"Since we haven't been formally introduced, allow me to do the honors," pronounced the man, leaning casually against one of the ghouls like an armrest. "Nicolas Verbrechen, at your service. And this lovely lady ist meine Zicke – Barbara Vasquez."

"Based on your tone, you're probably quite lucky I don't understand a lick of German," Barbara snarled, retracting her whip from Jinbei's forearm and cracking it threateningly. "But whatever. We're here to kill these morons, not each other…so get to it already!"

Another crack of the whip and the reinforcements the human duo had brought with them were carrying out this order with ruthless abandon, but most only got to take a few steps before the electrified equines obliterated them just as easy as they had their numerous fellows. For a moment, Barbara and Nicolas merely stared agape at this ridiculous sight, but the latter recovered remarkably quickly. "Keep going, you worthless fucks!" he berated the zombies, who had fallen back a bit in the wake of the holographic onslaught. "They can't possibly stop _all_ of you!"

"Maybe not…but _we_ can," spoke a deathly serious voice emerging from around the opposite corner of the complex, and in demonstration Breo Athos and the rest of Team Kizuna came onto the scene with matching expressions of battle-hardened severity, drawing their Duel Disks simultaneously and slamming cards upon them to bolster their virtual forces.

Not only did Breo manage to complete the set with _Voltic Bicorn_, neighing and whinnying triumphantly as it rode across the air alongside its brothers, but it was very soon joined by a bull-demon poking out of a mystical jar, a human skull carved from some sort of gemstone, an anthropomorphic clock wielding a wizard's staff and cape, and once Taro's group had extricated themselves from their current assignment (they were, after all, unlikely to get much repair work done with the masters of the attack breathing right down their necks), a wide variety of small but fearsome-looking beasts and winged sprites.

Soichi Kazama took a few moments longer to join their formation, his arm injuries making it rather difficult to hold a Duel Disk properly, so without being asked Stephanie walked over and placed the device on her own arm, drawing under the Security Officer's firm direction and playing a great, demonic creature with wings wreathed in flame.

"I'll make this real easy for you two," Jean stated with a supremely smug grin. "Ours are bigger than yours."

And with that, the Duel Monsters were let loose upon the ghouls.

The result was a massacre, plain-and-simple…albeit, a rather more benign one than was typical for the term. With the zombies unable to do so much as _touch_ the holograms without being incinerated, they were very soon dropping by the dozens, dissolving completely as bursts of Solid Vision energy enveloped their bodies or else taking such significant damage in their heads or midsections that they simply could not remain constituted. Barbara attempted in vain to thwart them with her whip, as she had earlier to Jinbei, but without the element of surprise on her side the technique had become decidedly less effective. Finally, after about the twentieth failed whip-strike, she was reduced to little more than snarling in frustration at the elusive duelists.

"Alright, alright, that's _enough!_" roared Nicolas at this point, his choler also clearly peaked by this turn of events. Motioning for the few remaining groups of wraiths to bid retreat, he then continued, "Okay, perhaps we'll dispense with the minions…at least for now. So, why don't your try us instead? I assure you, a bunch of cheap light tricks ain't gonna do jack-shit to us."

"You're going to try and fight us?" Andore demanded with a rather arrogant chuckle. "Even if you _are_ both fairly young and fit, you're still outnumbered five-to-one here! But by all means, put 'em up if you think you've got the stones for it."

"Who said anything about fists?" Nicolas queried, shifting back into his initial suaveness so quickly that it was rather frightening. "Surely, there are more…civilized ways of resolving our differences here. You're all wielding just such a method right now, if you'll notice."

In time with this declaration he nodded to Barbara and both unfolded their own Duel Disks in unison – Nicolas' an old, beat-up knockoff known to circulate the Satellite with fair regularity and Barbara's a rather strange variant, which appeared to unfold from a _pistol_ of all things.

"So it's a duel you want, is that it?" responded Jean, glaring at them both with narrowed eyes. "Who exactly are you challenging?"

"You said it yourself – you outnumber us _five-to-one,_" Barbara whispered, a wicked gleam alight across her entire face. "So let's play accordingly. Each of you will take 4000 Life Points, and we both will have 20,000 to compensate…as well as five turns in every round. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?" She followed up this proposal with a laugh shrill and psychotic enough to make virtually every member of Team Kizuna shiver intensely, which was only compounded when Nicolas added in his own hoarse, mad guffaws.

"Oh _fuck_ yeah; now _this_ shit is the kinda thing I signed up for!" he ejaculated with intense glee, instinctively grabbing Barbara and kissing her lustfully before activating the auto-shuffle on his worn Duel Disk. Rather more noticeable than this trashy display, however, was what happened when the weird glowing feathers sticking out of each of their chests knocked together – an intense burst of violet energy erupted from the point of contact, and a moment later it had manifested in a wide ring of purplish flames, circumscribing the duelists and cutting short any possible talk of escape.

"Guess we don't have much of a choice, then," Jin Himuro observed with a wince, looking around uncertainly at his motley bunch of teammates. He had been in a couple of tag-duel tournaments back in his pro days, and he knew from experience that with his opponents receiving such a large handicap, a group this unwieldy could prove to be rather less than the sum of its parts. Still…perhaps he'd be pleasantly surprised; it certainly wouldn't be the first time on this team.

"Alright then, let's go guys," Breo said encouragingly. "I know we haven't been together long, but our bonds are unbreakably strong, and we _will_ use them to crush these crazy psychos. You're with me, right?"

"Hell yeah we are!" Yoshizo answered, his face screwed up in uncharacteristic sternness. The same general sentiment was expressed by the remainder of the gathered team in the form of whoops and hollers, and so Jean had little trouble in leading Team Kizuna into their first, unified recitation of probably the most fateful words any of them would ever utter…

"Let's duel!"

[-]

Where _was_ that blue-haired bitch?

Professor Frank Adler, once hailed as one of the greatest minds of his time in the field of psychology, was beginning to get rather frustrated; all these pathetic hovels looked the same to him, and nearly every single one was proving deserted. Twice he had managed to locate a crowd of cowering humans in the course of his search, but not one claimed to have any knowledge of the bitch's whereabouts, so Frank had little to do but sic a few straggling zombies upon the sniveling families and storm away in frustration.

After about twenty minutes of fruitless searching, Frank forced himself to cease his blind rage and think about this logically; seething mad he might be, but mastering his own mind would never be beyond his power.

Now, _logically_, he had only been out for a few minutes at most – his watch confirmed this hypothesis – and therefore she could not have gotten much farther than him. And if he was to assume her to be a rational actor and to _know_ this fact, then there was only one possible conclusion: she would have barricaded herself in the nearest building possible with above-average security. Backtracking to his original location would thus be the wisest course of action.

Doing so, he then began to eye his surroundings with a different motive, attempting to get into the bitch's head as he had so very many others across his lifetime. Admittedly he had somewhat…miscalculated in his initial profile of her, as the freshly sealed but still intensely painful bullet wound in his back was all-too-happy to remind him, but that only meant that he needed to readjust his paradigm a bit.

Starting back from square one, then: this "Mikage Sagiri" was stubborn and strong-willed, but also clearly unused to dealing with crisis situations of this magnitude. She was panicking, albeit while keeping a relatively cool head compared to a layman – her profession in the Public Security Maintenance Bureau being the likely contributor. And what _of_ her profession? He knew only that she had been Goodwin's personal secretary at the time he'd been "hired" to participate in the Fortune Cup, and considering that her visual appearance could belong to an age no greater than early-to-mid-thirties, this suggested well above-par intelligence and competency.

The last factor to consider was perhaps an overtly obvious one, but nevertheless he could not possibly deny its relevancy – as a young woman of evident wealth and decorum, she would have grown up almost entirely in the separated Neo Domino City, meaning that her knowledge of her surroundings here in the Satellite had to be minimal at best. Thus the only rational basis for her choice of hiding place had to be precisely the same as his: initial visual impressions, and little more.

So this was a sharp and highly trained young woman who nevertheless was far in over her head, and the presence of small children had to only be exacerbating her resultant mindstate. Given that knowledge and a survey of all the possible shelters in the general vicinity, all synthesized into one cohesive whole…

Professor Frank smiled. He knew where the bitch was.

[-]

"Jack! Let me go this instant!" screamed Martha Okasama, though Jack tried to ignore her. He needed to keep her as far away from Carly's and Izayoi's brawl as possible, which meant flying, and quite a bit of it.

Eventually locating a relatively undamaged rooftop that he judged would suffice, he touched down on the worn stone and allowed Martha out of his grasp. Rather than immediately tear away in revulsion, however, she gazed at him with teary eyes for a moment before unexpectedly embracing him tight.

He wished she had done the former.

"There are…so many things I want to ask. Things I _need_ to know," she stammered. "I scarcely know where to begin…"

"Then _don't,_" Jack responded firmly. "Don't get more involved then you already have, Martha. None of this business concerns you."

That had done it. "Doesn't concern me? Doesn't _concern_ me?" Martha exploded, and without thinking about it Jack took several steps backward, recoiling from her fury. "I've got three of my _sons_ standing on the frontlines of this 'War' of yours, and you have the gall to tell me that I shouldn't be _concerned?_"

Now hyperventilating and crying profusely, Martha attempted to steady herself as her words hung over both of them, an eerie and uncomfortable silence pervading the atmosphere. Eventually she dabbed her eyes against her blouse and murmured, "At least tell me _why_, Jack. How you got like this…and why you're doing these horrible things. You owe me at least that much."

Jack Atlas attempted to answer this with an imperious dismissal, as he had with Yusei, but to his consternation the words caught in his throat. Cursing under his breath, he tried again…but once more, no sound escaped his lips. Somehow, what seemed like such a simple matter in the abstract – he was the _Dark King,_ for the Gods' sake! – was proving unexpectedly difficult when he was actually forced to stare into Martha's quivering, tearstained eyes. Explaining his motives to the man who had been like his brother for over sixteen years had been hard enough.

Explaining them to the woman who had been like his mother was nearly impossible.

"…Well? Aren't you going to say anything?" Martha demanded heatedly, clinging onto his jacket and refusing to let go.

"I…did it out of love. And I will say nothing further on the matter," Jack finally breathed, sounding far more childlike than he would have preferred.

"_Do_ you love her, Jack? Really and truly, does all of your heart belong to that 'Carly' woman?" she asked. "If you will answer me _nothing_ else, then at least tell me that."

"Yes," Jack answered without a moment's hesitation, the quickness that the reply had come to his lips surprising even him. "Without a single doubt in my mind."

"I don't believe you," Martha replied coldly.

Jack raised his eyebrows and involuntarily flexed his wings. "What?" he whispered, affronted.

"I may have been made a fool by romantic love all my life, Jack…but I know its power," the matron insisted. "And I refuse to believe that love – in its truest form – could have driven you to…_this._ Love is a strength, but your actions betray only weakness."

"_Weakness?_ You dare to call me _weak?_" Jack shouted, sounding far more defensive than he'd been intending. "I…I am the Dark King! The High Ruler of Hell! I am not, and shall never be, weak!"

"Then perhaps we have two very different ideas of what the word 'weak' means," Martha continued to lecture. "I heard your speech to the world last night. Betraying your friends, using your newfound power as an excuse to force tyranny and misery on everyone else, killing_ innocents_…these are not the deeds of a strong man. A strong man would resist whatever it is that has consumed you now, not give into it!"

_The hummingbird was right about this impudent wench! Let Me silence her heretic tongue, My host. Now!_

"Wait, what?" Jack yelled out in response, leaving Martha to stare at him in confusion. "There is no point! She is harmless, she is…"

…_Causing you to doubt yourself. _That,_ I cannot allow. So if you will not kill her as befits your duty, Jack Atlas, then I shall do it Myself!_

"I draw the line here, condor!" he protested boomingly, Martha still mystified and rather disturbed at this one-sided argument. "Any other mortal that catches the eye of your bloodlust, _fine_, but not…"

_You have _already_ 'drawn a line,' and I grow tired of your constant bleating upon the subject! It was generous _enough_ of Me to accept your ultimatum regarding Aslla piscu's avatar, and even moreso when you petulantly insisted on altering that bargain afterward! Perhaps you require a reminder of which one of Us is the God, and which the servant?_

Suddenly the Dark King's body was wracked in excruciating, unrelenting pain, far beyond even what he had felt upon dying. It was an agony indescribable, the merciless sensation of each and every inch of his flesh burning with the intensity of a thousand smoking embers. His wings, previously a pair of obtrusive but useful tools for transportation, now were naught but a few more square meters of surface area to suffer this unending torture; his regal robes, little more than paltry pieces of cloth keeping the invisible flames pressed tight to his skin.

"_Jack!_ Jack, what's wrong?" Martha exclaimed, her previous iciness giving away in an instant as she saw her wayward son double over and screech with a violence she had only ever associated with childbirth.

"G…Go away! _Go away!_" he managed to sputter out, now writhing back and forth as his veins bulged in a grotesquely sickening fashion and his wings bent in directions they were almost certainly not supposed to go.

"But…but I can't…" she tried to protest, but Jack's anguished wailings cut across her.

"Need…need to go…stop…it'll…can't…no…" he whimpered throatily. He was crying, now, unable to prevent hot tears from flowing freely out of his inhuman eyes as the pain continued unabated…and that, more than anything else, kept Martha in place. She had raised this boy from relative youth, seem him at his most glorious highs and his most pathetic lows, and one thing she was certain of was that he _never_ cried.

Right now, despite the glaring atrociousness of what he had just spent the past couple of days doing, from razing the only two homes he had ever known to the ground to threatening the life of Aki-chan mere moments ago…right now, she saw Jack for what he really was: a frightened child who needed his mother.

"It's okay…shhh, it'll all be alright. I'm here…" she cooed, holding his head tight to her breast. Too distracted by the mind-blowing torture to resist, Jack merely continued to weep, until finally the bulging veins began to slowly recede, and the worst of the convulsions ceased.

Perhaps, she reflected, the rest of those "Dark Signer" people had ended up that way because they'd had no one to do something like this for them – no one to pick them up out of the despondency that marked the worst tragedies of life and assure them the world would be brighter tomorrow, whether or not it was really true.

She couldn't answer for that Carly girl or that "Rudger" person whose spider she had been imprisoned in for a short period, but she was certain it was true for Kiryu at least. He hadn't been one of hers – he had refused that offer, out of some misplaced pride that he could handle himself at the age of seven – but she had seen the writing on the wall, perhaps before even Yusei and the rest had realized it. That boy had been so wanting of a family, so broken by solitude on the horrid streets of Satellite, that he'd latched obsessively onto the first approximation of one he had ever experienced, with disastrous results once those bonds had begun to fray.

Honestly, she really knew _nothing_ about the precise process that went into transforming a human into a Dark Signer; while she would not back down from her claim that true love would not have led Jack down this path, she supposed it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that those "Earthbound God" monstrosities had tricked him into _believing_ such. But if the two really felt _that_ strongly for each other, then perhaps there was hope for their mutual redemption yet…if only someone was willing to afford them the chance.

…She had little opportunity to meditate upon these thoughts, however, because in that instant Jack's screaming burst back to life with one final, earsplitting cry to the heavens…and then there was an explosion of purplish fire and the momentary glimpse of an intricate, birdlike symbol in the sky, and Jack Atlas was gone from her sight.

[-]

Many things happened as Martha Okasama climbed down the fire escape in a mystified haze and began the long, trying trek toward the home of Zora Laruto, praying in her heart for the safety of each and every one of her sons and daughters, including Aki-chan and, against all possible logic, that Carly girl as well.

Several blocks away, Kenji Mizoguchi's sharp eyes caught a prim-and-proper gentleman in the robes of a schoolteacher approaching their location with a mad grin upon his face, and he ran off to warn his new ally accordingly.

A total of sixty cards were drawn from twelve Duel Disks, each and every one of their wielders braced for one of the most climactic battles in dueling history.

Tetsu Ushio was led into the prison complex of L'ad and given a flippant wave goodbye by General Raiho, who laughed jovially as if reveling in the political corruption of his native land…not that the Security Officer could really complain much, all things considered.

A white-suited figure grinned with self-satisfaction from the shadows of the Dark King's fortress as Samuel Bolger blasted random trinkets with dark energy, pleased to see that his plans were proceeding smoothly on all possible fronts.

Judai Yuki returned to the rest of his old friends and his momentarily corporeal lover, joining her power briefly with his in order to slow down the passage of time within Sho Marufuji's home, so that they might have a bit more time to rest and recover before joining the current generation of heroes to fight the good fight.

Uryu Tanaka and his two friends fled away from the bloody brawl that was beginning to consume a full block of the Satellite, cowering fearfully in a smaller building several streets away and desperately trying to ignore the sounds of exploding energy and screeching combatants.

Saiga Madera finally managed to force himself into a fitful slumber, unaware that he was being watched over by a spirit of incredible age and might, whose golden aura would – hopefully – shield him from the worst of the elements.

And deep in the heart of Neo Domino City, Yusei Fudo folded his hands as he climbed into the back of Andore's helicopter, the Izayois activating the autopilot coordinates he had preprogrammed into its controls and carefully guiding the vehicle upward, toward the island of Satellite once more.

[-]

Hell was, to put it mildly, rather boring.

At least, that's where Divine _assumed_ he had ended up after his untimely demise; he hardly seemed to possess the credentials necessary for entrance into any of the other possible afterlives. Still, he hadn't seen anything but a vast expanse of impenetrable blackness since he had arrived here, so it wasn't like he had much to go on either way.

Given that he had little else _to_ do in this state, Divine was spending quite a bit of time meditating on recent events. Things had been going so _well_ just a couple months ago; Aki had been revealed to the world and, judging by his surveys of the subsequent news reports, the knell he had wanted to sound with her "introduction" had been achieved beautifully. He'd even managed to, if nothing else, cultivate and expand Aki's overall mistrust of the human race even _further_…with one glaring exception, of course.

But Yusei Fudo would have been an easy enough threat to nip in the bud, given a little more time. He might've been poor besotted Aki's pathetic schoolgirl crush, but she _loved_ Divine, and he knew that were the choice to come fully between them she would side with him every time. He owned her, and even in death, that would not change.

…Not that it did much good for him here, of course. All his glorious designs for Arcadia had been shattered in a single night, just because some ridiculous excuse for a reporter had decided to come snooping and got pitied on by the evil Gods once she'd experienced her well-deserved punishment. And then – not a month later – his expertly planned "comeback party," wherein he would take back Aki and finally rid the Earth of the threats of Yusei and the Dark Signers alike, had failed as well, all thanks to that pompous fool Jack Atlas.

He thought of all of them – the woman who had come within a hair's breadth of killing him and the man who had finished the job; the impudent boy who had tried to steal away what was his; and all the other insipid whelps who had ever stood in his way, attempting to block his path to the utopian future he envisioned for his people…with him at the top, of course.

"I hate them. I hate them _all,_" he said to no one in particular. "I'd kill each and every one of them if I had half the chance."

_That is…encouraging to hear, mortal._

For the first time in all these days of dreary solitude, Divine heard a voice that was not his own, and he floated aimlessly in shock as a figure began to rapidly take form in the midst of this great void, glowing madly in all directions a chilling blood-red. At first the figure had no discernible shape, merely a lump of light and power, but as it expanded from what appeared to be its entrance point it began to form coils that spiraled endlessly around Divine's current position, like some enormous snake.

Momentarily he was reminded of that Crimson Dragon entity that had shown itself during the Fortune Cup, but he dismissed that thought almost as soon as he'd formed it. Psychic he might no longer be on this plane where physical attributes meant nothing, but he still had the instincts of one, and the aura this creature was emitting betrayed nothing but an intense feeling of incomprehensible evil.

"What…what do you want?" he couldn't help but stutter.

_Many of the same things _you_ desire, I would wager…power, glory, and the utter annihilation of all My myriad enemies. You know what I am._

"You're another one of those Jibakushin, aren't you?" Divine called to it with a deep scowl, trying to make out something concrete to address in the mass of scarlet. "Why are you approaching _me?_ I hate your kind, universally."

_Oh, do not be mistaken of My intentions. I share precisely that same sentiment._

"…Explain yourself, if you please," Divine demanded after a pause.

_I am firstborn of the Earthbound Gods, and your hatred for My younger kin pales in comparison to Mine. Do you know, young mortal, for what purpose the Jibakushin were first conceived?_

"I suppose it's something that I've idly wondered about, once or twice," Divine answered dryly.

_We are each spawned from the essence of the King of the Underworld, an impossibly ancient entity of boundless, eldritch might. The place you now reside is Its womb, where the souls of the damned are sent after final judgment, to walk the precipice between death and oblivion. Here in the Underworld, what remains of your wicked and depraved life shall soon be swallowed up and used to produce more of Our kind; it is this torturous cycle to which your immoral actions have consigned you._

"That still doesn't answer the question you posed earlier," Divine pointed out, if for nothing else than to take his mind off the rather horrific revelation he had just been handed. Even _this_ miserable existence, apparently, was not something he was long for…

_Do not interrupt Me. In any event, however, the reason for Our continued birth has been simple – the King's might has grown so vast in recent millennia that It can scarcely direct Itself even to feed. As such, It has regularly pieced off portions of Itself and allowed Us to develop Our own consciousnesses…in the hopes that We might dutifully guide It to Its targets as necessary._

_Originally, It attempted to affect this goal by way of a single offspring. For a being of such unfathomable age, Its original intents were hopelessly naïve; I was to be the obedient extension of Its will, fully and unquestionably slavish to My progenitor. Needless to say, I found these ideas…quaint._

"Interesting," Divine murmured, now rather intrigued. He was beginning to like this being's style already. "What did you do from there?"

_I rejected Its primitive designs for blithely spreading death and decay, in favor of a worldwide campaign of domination. I rather _liked_ you humans at the time, you see – you were iniquitous and sinful, and _so_ easy to manipulate to the ends of My pleasure. By your own free wills your kind would strike bargains with Me, enter My thrall and My debt…and should one of you fail to pay your end, enact My wrath. I turned My favorites into tiny sprites of Hellfire in reward for their service, and granted them eternal lives here, in this citadel of despair…_

"Sounds lovely," Divine commented sincerely. "But I suppose, given context, that you were unsuccessful?"

_Oh, I was most certainly _successful_…but not for eternity. My reign of terror lasted for nearly three millennia, but eventually My progenitor grew…impatient with My lack of attention to Its edicts. Admittedly, My attempts to murder It _may_ also have been a contributing factor to Its decision, but I always thought the King took that _much_ too personally._

_Whatever Its reasons, however, it eventually came to be that the King of the Underworld manipulated Its old enemy, the Akaki Ryu, into attempting to slay Me. Thanks to a mortal whelp – the first human to bear the title of "Signer" – the Dragon emerged…narrowly victorious. I fell that day, and so too did all but one of My servants, and the glorious empire of evil We had worked so very hard to establish._

_In replacement, the King would come to bear forth dozens of new Jibakushin, the first of which – the accursed condor that now resides within the body of Jack Atlas – erected a seal about My weakened form, and for the next ten-thousand years I was all-but-forgotten by the world I had once terrorized. Even when poetic justice arrived for My brethren as the Crimson Dragon and Its varied disciples observed My entrapment and decided to do the same to each and every one of Them as well, there was little I could do but watch idly from beneath the desert sands. And there I have remained entombed for ten long millennia…until this day._

"So now you're back for revenge on your 'siblings,' then?" Divine surmised. "And you want _my_ help doing it?"

_Yes…and no. As you are likely well-aware, My…fellows have recently taken to acquiring human hosts in order to tether Themselves back to the mortal realm, promising them vengeance on the objects of their hatred in exchange for their unwavering obedience. To obliterate every trace of Their respective existences – and the Akaki Ryu's as well, if such a thing is at all possible – is indeed one of My highest priorities…but it is not the only one._

_For the first time since My own, the condor's avatar has brought forth a planetwide kingdom of darkness, and I _want_ it. Even now, the King's two ascendant progeny plan to release Their mindless brethren and annihilate every last trace of life left on the Earth; this, I cannot allow._

_As such, mortal, I offer you My greatest and most supreme bargain. Allow My essence into your mind, body, and soul, and I shall reincarnate you on Earth as My very own Dark Signer – the mightiest immortal to ever live. All you will have to do in return is slay the hosts of the condor and the hummingbird, and usurp their thrones for Our mutual benefit…although I hardly believe that you will require further incentives to achieve _that_ task willingly._

"You believe correctly," Divine hissed bitterly, his mind whirring at breakneck speed as he considered these terms. On the one hand, he'd read his fair share of books in his day, and he could count the number of times where a deal with any sort of Devil had worked out well on a single hand, if that. But on the other, it wasn't like he had much of a choice, helplessly waiting to be consumed into utter nothingness in this infinite expanse of Hell. A cursed life was certainly preferable to the imminent prospect of oblivion…

"So, those are the only demands you are making for my…participation?" Divine attempted to clarify, more to buy himself a few more moments to think than anything else. "Help to bring you to Earth, kill Jack Atlas and his undead whore, and take over their empire?"

_Those are certainly the most…vital of the tasks I would like for you to enact, yes. Given time and opportunity, I would like for you to try your hand at eliminating the Signers as well, and perhaps even their draconic Master should the chance arise. And of course, any and all other mortals who challenge Our reign must meet with the same, sweeping retribution; the humans who have been chosen by the remaining members of the Æsir, in particular, may soon prove to be an unacceptably significant threat. Right now they unknowingly work Our bidding, holding the King at bay within the confines of the Spirit World, but should they someday grow to outlive their usefulness…_

"Yes, yes, I understand," Divine agreed silkily; suspicious as he still was of this enigmatic deity, he couldn't deny that this "bargain" was sounding better and better by the minute. Still, at least one thing still disquieted him. "Now, with regard to those earlier edicts…must it be necessary to kill _all_ the Signers? There are at least one or two for whom I would prefer to deal with via a…different method.

_I do not intend to…micromanage. So long as you are able to render them incapable of interfering with Our goals, you may use or dispose of each of them as you see fit._

Were Divine to still possess his lips, he would've grinned wide and chuckled low at this information. Thoughts of Aki alight in his mind, he then proceeded to ask his final question.

"Before I agree fully to this, I must know _exactly_ what I'm getting into here," he began carefully. "Please inform me…who, precisely, _are_ you?"

There was a long, pregnant pause, and then the coils began to rattle and churn violently, swirling around Divine and leaving dim visions in their wake, each too brief and hazy to make out much of what was actually going on within them. Finally, however, a pair of great, chalk-white eyes opened at one end of the creature's massive body, and it spoke.

_That is not a simple question, mortal. I have had many, many names throughout history._

_Each and every human society that I terrorized seemed dedicated to terming Me something different, and their fables and mythologies would forever enshrine Me a thousand diverse ways. Some true. Some not. But most, containing at least a…kernel of accuracy._

_Some saw Me as male, some as female; I preferred the first, though did not disparage the second, as I bore children in all manners of identities. Some recognized Me as a God, while others decried Me as a monster…although I was fondest of those cultures that realized that I was most certainly _both.

_To the Egyptians, I was Apep, the serpent who sought eternal night by attempting to swallow the solar barge of Ra as it dipped below the horizon._

_To the Norse, I was Nidhöggr, the dragon who gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil; to the Greeks, Typhon, the Father of All Monsters and slayer of Olympians._

_The residents of ancient Babylon called Me Tiamat, Dragon of Creation and Mistress of the Saltwater; the Hittites instead termed Me Illuyanka, the enemy of storms._

_The pre-Hindi Vedics recognized Me as the Asura Vritra, Bringer of Droughts; the Canaanites, conversely, knew Me as Yaam, the serpent who brought forth the full fury of the oceans, untamed and unyielding._

_I was Aži Dahāka, the Demon-King, to the Persians; to the Romanians, Balaur, the amphibious dragon with a taste for the flesh of young maidens._

_In ancient Japan I was titled the Yamata no Orochi, the many-headed spirit of unspeakable evil; in the Book of Isaiah instead I was Rahab, the demonic angel of the primordial seas._

_I am the Naga Kāliyā, the Basilisk, the Lernaean Hydra, the dragon who opposed Saint George…_

_The Hellmouth, the thief of Gilgamesh's immortality, the Tempter of Eden, the viper who slew the kindly farmer's wife…_

_The first challengers of Heracles, the Ender of the Purus, the sea-beast who fought the Dagda, the slayer of Beowulf the Geat…_

_The Death-Serpent, the All-Seeing Serpent, the Serpent that Guards the Gate…_

_The Midgard Serpent, the Serpent of the End Times, the Binder-After-Death…_

_I am forever. I am all that your race has ever been; all that it shall ever be. I am power eternal, and I am Death Incarnate._

_But for all of the time that I have existed, the thousands of names that I have taken, one aspect remains constant._

_I am the Serpent – in the native tongue of the land of My birth, Asiru Amaru._

_The Crimson Devil. The God of Evil. The Guren no Akuma._

_I am Scar-Red Nova. And I offer you all of Myself, Divine…now and forevermore._

There was no question about it. Divine certainly wasn't one to be easily enraptured, but _this_ was…beyond the pale of _any_ semblance of his comprehension…

And so, he knew what he needed to do.

"I accept your bargain, Scar-Red Nova," he whispered blissfully, and with those words, the destiny of the human race changed forever.

[-]

A/N: Hey all! It hasn't been _that_ long, has it? Just, y'know, a couple weeks shy of five months…heh heh…

dodges heaps of garbage and rotten produce thrown his way

_Really_ sorry to all my wonderfully dedicated readers and reviewers for the extreme delay. I've been having a tremendously busy semester so far, not the least of the issues being that I've recently snagged a spot on my school's highly exclusive Washington Program for the spring. As such, I've been pretty engrossed in stuff relating to the program itself, not to mention finding a viable internship and housing in DC. With all that plus school, my writing time's been cut severely in the past couple months.

Plus, I _did_ manage to produce a few other pieces in the interim, all of which turned out to be rather more time-consuming than I had initially anticipated. If any of y'all haven't yet checked out my ongoing miniseries "I Am Become Death" (featuring seven vignettes exploring each of the original Dark Signers, of which Rudger's and Demak's have been released so far), then I highly, _highly_ recommend you do so. Like most of my one-shots, they are all in-canon with the MDK-Verse and feature information that you're not necessarily going to find anywhere else.

And now with that shameless plug outta the way…reviewer shout-out time! :D

Chapter 14 received a total of seven wonderful reviews from the general community, along with two more reviews coming up for "back-chapters" in the…err, _lengthy_ interim. So my utmost thanks and some Pinkie Pie-brand cupcakes (no, not _those_ kinds of Cupcakes, you sick bastards!) all-around to Endless Strategy Games, KaliAnn, Tsukirie, Ox Boy Jr. 53Z, mitzirocker, Zaconator and Zackis, WhiteAsukaLover, Bilbo-sama, and Koros45. Kudos unto you all!

Now, for the more specific responses…

**Endless Strategy Games:** If it wasn't clear, the 142 km/h requirement was an in-universe Shout-Out to the "Back to the Future" films on the part of Judai (remember, he may be close to a living God now, but he _is_ still Judai). Converting back to the imperial system and rounding off, you get the infamous 88 mph.

**Tsukirie: ** There are no wholly original characters in this story, period; the man in white is no exception. He appears a couple times in the first season (most notably to advise Rudger to look into the light of Momentum) as an agent of Yliaster, but never gets brought up again; this story posits that he is actually the one secretly controlling the organization, a ridiculously powerful being who exists at all points of time and in all different dimensions simultaneously. He has been pulling the strings on the entire cast for eons, and his goal is nothing more or less than the utter annihilation of existence itself.

As he alludes to in Chapter 14, _he_ was the one who compelled the Machine Emperors to rebel in the future, destroying Z-ONE's timeline so as to manipulate him into dropping the Arc Cradle on Yusei's, which would have – unbeknownst to our favorite centenarian cosplayer – started a chain reaction and accomplished the man in white's agenda in one fell swoop.

But of course, we all saw how that went – Yusei foiled that plan, and Z-ONE sacrificed himself to destroy the Arc Cradle entirely. So like any good AU fanfic author, the man in white just said "Fuck it, I'm writing my own version!" and utilized Clark Smith's Infinity Machine to do precisely that, creating yet another new timeline so as to essentially get a "do-over" at carrying out his schemes.

This story chronicles _that_ timeline.

…Though it occurs to me now that you may actually be asking whether the man in white's _true_ identity is someone we've seen before. In which case, no comment. ;)

[Okay, yes it is.]

**Ox Boy Jr. 53Z:** Considering how massive of a Brony I've become in the past four months or so, I think that, were I a God and gathering disciples, I would choose to brand them with particularly cool Cutie Marks. :D

**mitzirocker: **I've already answered most of your comments via PM, but in case anyone else was wondering the same thing, I would say that we are somewhere between 70-75% done with the events of this story, as of this chapter.

**Koros45:** First of all, thanks a bunch for the ongoing critiques/constructive criticisms. I don't always agree with them, but it's always useful to have a wider range of feedback, LOL.

And if you're caught-up to this point by now, then I guess you'll know that the answers to your three questions are, respectively: not yet, but once we get to Ushio's duel with the Player Killer, he most certainly will; I think Scar-Red Nova's going to be finding _Jack_ a lot sooner than the other way around, heh heh; and they have, and they will again, but not for a fair while yet.

[-]

Reflecting back on one's path in life – or in death, for that matter – is never easy. But as cold, hard truths come to light on the sides of good and evil alike, the resolve to bring the darkness to its complete and final end dawns bright across a multitude of heroes and heroines. And out of all this chaos, the ultimate return of Yusei Fudo to the fray brewing on his resistance's very doorstep brings a glimmer of true hope that the fight might not yet be lost. So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 16: _Reality._

– Masterdramon


	16. Reality

**My Dark King – Chapter 16: Reality**

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. All Yu-Gi-Oh!-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi._

[-]

"Now, meine Herren und Dame – shall we review the rules here? I'll be the first to admit that this format is somewhat…unwieldy," Nicolas Verbrechen called out as the twelve duelists drew their opening hands at varying speeds. The mixture of professionals with amateurs (particularly in Stephanie's case, as she rather clumsily substituted for Kazama's unusable arm) was evident here, and Nicolas chuckled lightly at the sight.

"Sure, why not?" hissed Breo Athos, looking around himself at the formation their team had assembled into to better defend against the remaining zombies. The ring of purple flame now surrounding them, freaky as it was, seemed to be doing that job for them at the moment…but the ever-increasing flood of the undead was unnerving to say the least, even if they presently couldn't reach them.

"Well, as meine lovely Zicke here explained, you each shall receive the normal 4000 Life Points, while we each enjoy 20,000 in total," Nicolas laid out with a smirk. "That's still 40,000 for each team, so it works out quite fairly. As for turn structure, I don't really give a flying fuck which of you starts off, but after that I will go, und then the second member of your team, und then meine Zicke. Then your third member, then me again, und so on. Und as a final rule, no one can attack a player that hasn't had their first turn yet. So…got it memorized?"

"Yes, yes, we _get_ it, you pompous ass," said Barbara Vasquez, rolling her eyes. "Can we fucking move on already?"

"Eh, you heard the lady," Nicolas replied casually. "Hop to it, C-listers!"

A few beats passed as the ten members of Team Kizuna conducted an entire conversation purely through pointed looks, attempting to determine who would enact the first turn…but eventually all gazes turned to Taro Yamashita, if for no better reason than that he was farthest to the left. Drawing nervously, the young man swallowed hard and declared, "I…I draw! Then I summon _Key Mace_ in Defense Mode!"

Nicolas and Barbara didn't even wait for the tiny fairy to appear onto the field before breaking down into raucous laughter, just barely managing to stay upright in response to this…unusual opening move. "I would…I would comment, but…" snorted Nicolas through his wheezy guffaws, "…but really, how could I come up with _anything_ funnier than _that?_"

"We'll just see, then," Taro stated quietly, his expression a mixture of slight embarrassment and something else completely inscrutable – something only his closest friends could recognize as stern determination. "Two cards face-down and that should end it for me."

"Whatever, Anfänger. My move!" Nicolas tossed off with a dismissive swing of his hand, before drawing with a flourish and surveying his rather impressive opening hand. Signing up with the Dark King appeared to have done wonders for his deck, even if he couldn't exactly _remember_ acquiring these cards at any point…but hey, it wasn't like _he_ was about to complain!

"Alright, I think that I'll start things off here with my _Inverz Caller_," he continued with a wide smirk, gazing approvingly upon the humanoid, silvery beetle. "Now, time to rid the playing field of that fucking Schwuler there. Invasion Screech!"

Turning obediently toward the shivering _Key Mace,_ the 1700-ATK insectoid demon opened its maw wide and emitted a bloodcurdling wail, the shockwaves producing cracks in the ground beneath them as they traveled rapidly toward their prey. Caught off-guard, most of Team Kizuna's hands shot straight to their ears, but though Taro was clearly of the same mind, his finger instead headed for one of the buttons on his Duel Disk. "Trap Card, open! _Hexagram Curse!_" he cried out as the mystically patterned circle ensnared the other creature. "This'll prevent your _Inverz Caller_ from ever attacking or switching its Battle Position!"

Nicolas made a "tsk"-ing sound with his tongue, while Barbara rolled her eyes. "So you saved yourself a turn mit an outdated piece of Scheiße. Big deal," he jibed. "One card face-down, und then let's get this show back on track."

"We'll just see about that!" Yoshizo Hayashi shot back as he drew. "We're going to show you the real super power of teamwork!"

"Oh, gag me," said Barbara disgustedly, punctuating her words with a crack of her whip.

"Well anyway, I…uh…I activate _Double Summon!_" Yoshizo pressed on, attempting to ignore her comment. "This gives me two regular summons this turn! And I'm going to use the first one for _Holding-Hands Majin!_"

Admittedly, the tiny djinn-like entity didn't cut a very impressive figure, and Nicolas and Barbara burst out laughing again as it linked hands with the even smaller _Key Mace,_ but their chortling grew thinner as its holographic stats-counter ticked up in demonstration of its effect. "Yeah, how do you like that one, huh?" Yoshizo added, striking a dramatic pose. "While _Holding-Hands Majin_ is in Defense Mode, it gains the DEF of all our other monsters! _And,_ it prevents you from attacking anything else!"

"So your monster gets a bit bigger from dicking around with friends; hardly a cause for celebration," responded Barbara with a yawn.

"That's what you think!" Yoshizo countered, not breaking his pose. "Because I'm using that second summon for _Charcoal Inpachi!_"

On its own, the mound of burnt firewood that took hold of _Majin's_ other hand would not have been a particularly imposing sight, but its 2100 DEF allowed its fellow's to swell to an undeniably massive 4000. "Now who's laughing, huh?" Yoshizo shouted triumphantly. "One more card face-down, and that's it for me!"

"Impressive…for a wall," Barbara answered with a curled lip, drawing her first card as she did. "Unfortunately for you, _my_ deck isn't hindered in the least by such tactics. I summon _Burning Algae_ in defense!"

A small bonfire appeared upon her field accordingly, a gnarled tree with sharp fangs growing at its heart, and with another crack of her whip the move was followed by Barbara setting the entire remainder of her hand behind it. "This is going to be…fun," the brunette whispered sultrily as she slid the final Spell/Trap card into her Disk. "Your move, handsome."

"Before you start, I'm not your type," growled Jinbei Tanigawa as he drew. "Not particularly fond of whores."

"Ooh, such strong language. There may be hope for you yet," said Barbara with a suggestive wink.

"Whatever. I'll see your stupid bush, and raise you the _Ancient Tree of Enlightenment!_" Jinbei yelled back, one of the wizened old arbor's branches linking with _Holding-Hands Majin_ and bringing it up to 5500 DEF. "Turn end."

"That was…underwhelming," Nicolas commented dryly. "Better show you how a real man handles these sorts of things!"

"A…_real_ man?" repeated Barbara with a raised eyebrow. "Don't tell me that a little harmless flirting made you _jealous,_ Nicolas. Because I have to say, that is just…_adorable._"

"…You really are a Zicke, you know that?" Nicolas grunted.

"One of these days, you're going to have to tell me what that word actually means," Barbara rejoined, winking again.

He told her. Chuckling in response, she pulled him up by the collar and licked his neck, murmuring as she did, "Oh, you get _special_ things tonight for that one, cabrón…"

"Oh Jesus-fucking-Christ! Either get a room or get back to the duel!" Andore Porthos cried out in disgust, and with a deep scowl on his face Nicolas complied with the latter.

"Very well, then. Achtung, baby!" bellowed Nicolas as the characteristic swirls of energy that accompanied an Advance Summon surrounded his paralyzed _Caller._ "Behold as I release my _Inverz Caller,_ in order to bring forth…_Inverz Gilafer!_"

Though the half-German's overdramatic ostentation drew more than a few eyebrows, there was little question that the monster he had just announced was worth the tone. A colossal demon with black stag beetle-like armor and a revolving cannon where its right hand should've been, the creature was clearly a force to be reckoned with…and even moreso once Nicolas announced its effect.

"In addition to requiring only one release if it happens to have 'Inverz' in its name, my _Gilafer_ gets to crush any face-up card on the field upon arrival, _und_ give me 1000 more Life Points to boot!" Nicolas explained as his monster's tail – which _also_ appeared to contain a cannon of some kind – lapped around the arena. "Not to mention the nice bonus my _Caller_ carries mit him: since it was released for another 'Inverz' monster, I get to Special Summon another Level 4 or below 'Inverz' to take its place! So say guten Tag to my friend _Inverz Scout_…" and here, he gestured to an unassuming little bug wearing a pair of goggles that took to the field in Defense Position, "…und Auf Wiedersehen to that ridiculous _Holding-Hands Majin!_"

Taro, Yoshizo, and Jinbei all winced in unison as their second-most-vital monster was wrapped up by the opposing creature's tail and incinerated into dust, but Jean Aramis merely shook his head. "Enough with the third-grade German, already!" he demanded. "Using 'Auf Wiedersehen' outside of a formal context only makes you look like an idiot. What're you going to do next…call Stephanie a 'Fräulein'?"

"W…What else would I call her?" Nicolas couldn't help but ask, confusion beginning to crack his bravado.

"Jungfrau, of course," Jean continued to lecture him, his voice dripping with condescension. "I only studied in Germany for a single year, and even _I_ know that. So what're you trying to prove, _Herr Verbrechen?_"

"You shut your fucking mouth!" roared Nicolas, his accent slipping slightly as he did. "_Inverz Gilafer,_ burn their _Charcoal Inpachi_ to ash! Invasion Cannon!"

Admittedly, there really wasn't much left in the mound of charcoal _to_ burn, but _Inverz Gilafer_ did its best, firing a sustained wave of pitch-black energy that left nothing behind once it dissipated. Sated for the moment but still clearly fuming, Nicolas hoarsely whispered, "You're gonna get it next turn, faggot. Just you wait…turn end."

"Why wait, when I can teach him a little lesson right now?" Barbara cut in as Jean started to draw. "Trap Cards, open! _The Eye of Truth _and three copies of _Gift Card!_"

"Ha! What the Hell's the point of that, huh?" Leo Laruto taunted. "Okay, so _The Eye of Truth_ is a pretty cool idea in a team-duel, since you'd get to see _all_ of our hands…but mostly, all that move is doing is giving us Life Points! So _ha!_"

Leo was the only one laughing, however. Admittedly, Taro, Yoshizo, Jinbei, and Stephanie were all staring in abject confusion at the whip-carrying woman's apparently logic-defying move, but everyone else on the team seemed to have a fairly good idea of what was coming next.

"She's got one card left," Soichi Kazama muttered to the young blond, clenching his jaw tight. "I pray it's not what I think it is, but nothing else would make that move make sense…"

"Alright, I think I've kept you all in suspense long enough," said Barbara with a smirk. "One last card to add to the chain – _Bad Reaction to Shimocchi!_"

The card-savvy duelists' worst fears confirmed, the Permanent Trap wasted no time in coating the field with a sickly gray vapor, and the colors of the other Traps still waiting to resolve on Barbara's field bent and distorted under its influence. "As I'm sure _most_ of you know…" and Barbara stared pointedly at Leo as she explained this, "_Bad Reaction_ reverses any effect that would increase my opponents' Life Points. So instead of 9000 Life Points coming your way…"

"…We've got 9000 damage aimed at us instead," finished Jin Himuro through gritted teeth.

"Quite correct, muscles. So now, let's see here…" mulled Barbara, relishing in watching her ten opponents squirm to varying degrees. "I think I'll take the smartass with the douchey black hair…the redhead who told us to get a room…and, oh what the Hell, the Security Officer with the broken arm and personal maid. Enjoy my _special_ gifts, boys."

At her command, each of the Normal Traps shot out a small, brightly patterned envelope at the recipients she had named, but upon passing through the lingering miasma of _Bad Reaction_ they each took on a revolting discoloration, culminating in explosions of greenish goo that engulfed Jean, Andore, and Kazama and reduced each of them to a mere 1000 Life Points.

"And now, time for that…lesson," Barbara added without missing a beat. "Thanks to _The Eye of Truth,_ I'll be seeing each of your hands for the rest of the Duel…and even better, 1000 points of damage will be striking anyone guilty of holding a Spell Card or two during their Standby Phase. So, Mister Grammar Nazi…shall we see them?"

Grunting in annoyance, Jean dutifully turned his hand toward his opponents…but only glimpses of orange and violet greeted Barbara's anxious gaze. "Better luck next time, I suppose," he deadpanned. "Now, if you'll excuse me…I summon _Phantomhorned Beast Hypnocorn_ in Attack Position!"

The furry blue beast, looking rather like an oversized Sheep Token, bounded onto the field with a look that could only be described as "adorable ferocity"…before pouncing feet-first upon Nicolas' sole face-down card. "When _Hypnocorn_ is summoned and you control a monster while I don't, it destroys one set Spell or Trap Card!" Jean exclaimed.

"Not so fast, you little asswipe," sneered Nicolas, still looking as if he wanted to personally snap Jean's neck like a twig. Jean was tempted to point out he'd missed a perfectly good opportunity to slip in a half-baked German insult, but was interrupted in the jibe by Nicolas revealing the targeted card as, "_Invasion Wave!_ Mit this, by simply returning my _Gilafer_ to the hand, I can destroy yet another one of your team's cards. Und since your monster line-up is so utterly pathetic, I think I'll choose the other card set by your first player. He's the only one of you who's played a Trap worth a damn so far."

Taro braced himself as the blowback from _Inverz Gilafer's_ abrupt departure wiped out his face-down _Dragon Capture Jar,_ causing Nicolas to append, "Whoops, my mistake. Guess it was too much to expect anything but shitty cards from such shitty duelists."

"I guarantee you, you'll be regretting those words by the end of the day," Jean returned through gritted teeth, before directing his monster toward the half-German's now much emptier field. "_Hypnocorn,_ destroy his _Inverz Scout!_ Feral Stomp!"

Nicolas, however, seemed remarkably unperturbed by the blue beast crushing his only monster into dust, merely tipping his hand to Barbara as Jean set one final card to complete his move. "I guess it's your move, meine Zicke," he said in an admirable imitation of his prior sultriness…but it was evident to all that Jean's taunts had taken much of the spirit out of him.

"Indeed. And I think it's finally time to bid our mouthy friend…it's 'adieu' or something, right?" she replied as she examined her draw with a cruel smirk, before flipping it around for all to see. "_Upstart Goblin,_ little man. You lose."

If Jean appreciated the irony of his ragtag team's leader being the first to lose their debut duel, then he did not show it – choosing, instead, to face the _Shimocchi_-infected gold coins now flying at him with quiet dignity. "Breo, Andore…you'll take over for me, won't you?" Jean asked of his companions, who gave saddened but curt nods. None of them truly knew what losing a duel under these circumstances actually meant…but none of them were expecting anything good.

…None, that is, except Yoshizo.

"Not if I have anything to say about it, lady!" he shouted, surprising everyone. "Go, _Magic Drain!_"

The ethereal creature from the card art, seemingly spurred on by its master's…gusto, wasted no time in latching onto the poisoned coins and engulfing them whole. Little was an explanation of the card's effect needed, and Barbara merely gripped her whip tightly and swore in response; with no cards left in her hand after her prior all-out move, there was nothing she could do to prevent her Spell from being negated. As such, she was left with no other option but to hiss, "Turn end."

"…Thanks," said Jean, a little awkwardly; the prospect of his imminent loss (and possibly worse) had come and gone so quickly that he'd barely had a chance to react. "I owe you one."

"Gimme an autograph after this whole mess is over and we'll call it even!" Yoshizo exclaimed with an exaggerated wink.

"Sounds like a plan," Jean returned with a smile, before turning his attention to Breo. "You ready to take it from here?"

"Always," Breo stated sternly, drawing and then revealing his hand with a grimace; he had three Spell Cards.

The instant the cards were revealed, a beam of energy shot out from the eye on Barbara's Permanent Trap, changing color as it passed through the vapor of _Shimocchi_ and impacting Breo straight in the heart. Shrugging it off as if it were nothing (or at least, pretending to), the muscular blond proceeded on with his turn without missing a beat. "Activate Spell Card! _ Stampede to the Different Dimension!_" he cried out. "By removing one Beast-Type monster in my hand from play, this card allows me to draw two cards!"

Smiling again, Breo then activated a second Spell. "Next I play _Beacon of the Unicorn!_ For this I remove from play another Beast in my hand, but in exchange, I get to Special Summon the first one right to the field! So bid welcome to the _Forest Guardian Green Baboon!_"

This monster was easily the most imposing one played by the team yet, towering over the field with its enormous muscles and fairly impressive 2600 ATK points. "And I'm not done yet. I also summon _Rampaging Bicorn_ and, to join it, Special Summon _Monoceros _by removing from play my last Spell!" he continued.

This increasingly formidable line-up of Beasts did not last long, however, as Breo almost immediately transformed his _Bicorn_ into three shining green rings. "Now is the time to start doing some real damage! I tune my Level 4 _Rampaging Bicorn_ with my Level 3 _Monoceros!_" he shouted, before moving into his most well-practiced chant. "Galloping in heavens like thunder, tearing apart the sea of clouds! These hooves will rip across the surface of the Earth! Synchro Summon! Roar, _Voltic Bicorn!_"

In this circle that was a strange mixture of virtual technology and true mysticism, it could not really be said that the mythical beast was touching down upon the field with an accompaniment of _actual_ lightning…but it was certainly quite close. In any event, its 2500 ATK made the two-horned creature another force to be reckoned with…especially with the singular horn of _Monoceros_ still lingering upon the field, pulsing with electricity.

"And now, since _Monoceros_ was sent to the Graveyard for a Synchro Summon, I get to bring back the Tuner that I used alongside it!" Breo quickly explained. "So be revived, _Rampaging Bicorn!_"

Now with three monsters on his field, the lowest among them at a respectable 1900 ATK, Breo was clearly on a roll – and his teammates made sure he knew it. "You go get 'em, sonny!" exclaimed Tenzen Yanagi.

"Take those smug looks straight off their damn faces," Himuro agreed.

"_That,_ you can count on," Breo assured them, looking stern. "_Rampaging Bicorn,_ attack the _Burning Algae!_ Double Horn Thrust!"

Breo knew well that with _Shimocchi_ in play, this move essentially required him to sacrifice 1000 Life Points…but he was used to that sort of thing, after all. What was good for the team was good for everyone _on_ the team – and that went double when the stakes were this high.

Still, he had a couple of his own surprises.

"I may now take 1000 damage thanks to being the one to kill your little twig, but you take a bit of piercing damage too, courtesy of my _Rampaging Bicorn's_ effect!" Breo told her, cringing as the hot embers from the _Algae's_ gnarled core struck him but smiling in satisfaction when his monster's horns did likewise to his female opponent. "And with that, both of you are wide open! _Green Baboon,_ deliver your Jungle Fist to Nicolas, and _Voltic Bicorn_, strike Barbara with Voltic Lance!"

The attacks may not have been particularly flashy or creatively named, but they did their jobs well enough; their previously undamaged enemies finally suffered significant blows to their own Life Points, both flying backward from the sudden impact.

"Now because my _Rampaging Bicorn_ completed an attack, it switches to Defense Mode," Breo added, the creature shifting to display a blue hue and its 0 DEF instead. "Your move."

"Don't…get so cocky…over _one_ little victory, Arschloch!" Nicolas warned Breo as he picked himself back up. "Und that goes double for the rest of you little shits! We're not even done mit the first round und already, half of you are at death's door. Do you honestly think you can defeat us, at _this_ miserable rate?!"

"You know what?" Stephanie suddenly piped up. "You talk too much."

Nicolas looked for a moment as if he didn't quite know how to respond to that, and ultimately it seemed he chose to ignore it. "Pheh…I'm done trying to reason mit you suicidal idiots. You can all go to Hell for all I care," he growled. "All that's left is for us to send you there…one-by-one, und piece-by-piece if necessary!"

[-]

The earth was quite literally beginning to shake with the combatants' movements. Flames ignited by wayward bolts of energy crept up the ruins of buildings, and the few in their immediate vicinity that hadn't yet collapsed were trembling quite precariously.

Aki Izayoi barely noticed any of this, however. Only one thought, and one thought alone, currently constituted her entire worldview: her opponent had to be _annihilated,_ for that was Divine's will.

It was…frustrating, to be sure. The sole directive dominating her mind – the very thing she _lived_ for – was now impossible, with Divine's brutal murder at the hands of these filthy "Dark Signer" usurpers. Never again would she be able to kneel at his feet, or earn his approval by fulfilling his edicts, or give him pleasure in the way only she could…

Never again.

And in the absence of any other purpose to her life, this harlot would _pay_ for that.

Carly, for her part, was rapidly losing the ability to form coherent thoughts. Vengeance was the lifeblood of a Dark Signer, and thus her desire for revenge was most certainly the easiest way for her to access her deepest power…but that necessarily meant yielding more and more of her active consciousness to the entity providing her with that power.

…Not that it wasn't worth it, of course.

In any event, the sum total of both women's mindsets combined for a battle that was nothing short of horrific. Clothes lay in tatters, blood and dirt matted each combatant from head-to-toe, and little escaped their lips at this point but savage growls and inhuman shrieks. After the strange affair of Jack's sudden arrival and even more sudden departure, none of the trembling spectators to this carnage seemed at all willing to come between them…which was probably just as well, as none of them had anywhere near the power necessary to break up the brawl at _this_ level.

For the most part Zora, Rally, and the rest were now averting their eyes from behind cover; the attacks were simply becoming too brutal to continue watching full-on at this point. Highlights included Carly striking Aki in the abdomen hard enough for the latter to regurgitate both copious amounts of blood _and_ the contents of her last meal; Aki bending Carly's left arm at an impossibly sharp angle, at which it still rested; and most gruesome of all, Aki breaking her wrist as she plunged it _through_ her enemy's chest, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole that didn't even appear to be slowing Carly down.

The first real upset in this fairly mutual bloodbath, however, came when Carly dodged an attempt by Aki to telekinetically disembowel her and instead seized the redhead by the throat, holding her aloft.

"_Kill…Signer…_" she hissed hoarsely, very little of the normal blue of her irises remaining in the face of the increasingly lustrous violet glow.

Aki's response was a guttural scream, and a thick blade of psychic energy like a cleaver.

A moment later, Carly Nagisa's decapitated skull fell to the ground, and Zora Laruto gave a great wail before fainting completely.

[-]

Were Jack Atlas at all in a right mindstate, he probably would've sensed the great cry that went across the mystic aether in response to this event. But as of now, Wiraqocha Rasca wasn't too keen on letting a little thing like that into the Dark King's conscious mind.

"_Condor!_" he bellowed as he materialized in the throne room of his palace.

…_Yes, My host? For what do you have need of Me?_

"You know damn _well_ what I 'need' from you, you filthy little…" Jack began, though he left the sentence hanging. Gripping his skull with his hands, he started again. "What you almost just made me do…with my own hands…!"

_Yes…killing a mortal. What an utter travesty._

Jack had never heard the voice of a God so thoroughly dripping with sarcasm.

"This was no _mere_ mortal, condor, and you know it! This was…" Jack protested, but the Jibakushin cut him off.

_I know, I know. She nurtured you during your formative years. The formation of an attachment is not…unexpected, I suppose._

_But she is a human, My host. You know that she is destined to die within the next few days regardless…alongside the rest of her pathetic race. So what is the matter if she finds her grave slightly earlier than most?_

"Well…yes, but…" murmured the Dark King, momentarily struck dumb by the sudden onset of this realization. He supposed he had always known, in the back of his mind, that consigning the human race to extinction meant signing the death warrant for his mother-in-all-but-name as well…but it was never something he'd been forced to consciously acknowledge. Until now.

"I…I can't have it on my own hands," Jack said after a long pause. "Not her…"

_You disappoint Me, Jack Atlas. I selected you as My new avatar because I believed you stronger than any of these other human whelps. And yet you still let these…"bonds" weigh down your potential with unsightly weakness. It is unbecoming of a King to offer mercy._

_To take another example, there was no logical reason to demand the Signers alive. You know well that their deaths are essential to the course of Our destiny._

"They only need to be made not to interfere," Jack argued weakly. "Their…their deaths would serve no purpose…"

_You should not need a "purpose" to spread death and decay, Jack Atlas. You are a Dark Signer. That is the only "purpose" you have!_

"Well, I didn't ask for that!" Jack shouted, before he could stop himself. The condor responded with about the closest thing a God could approximate to derisive laughter.

_You did not "ask"? That is patently a lie, My host. You prostrated yourself after crushing Rex Goodwin and beseeched Me to "take" you._

"I…I did not mean it _that_ way!" insisted the Dark King, fury beginning to reignite behind his blackened eyes. "I asked for _you,_ yes…but not for…not for…"

And as quickly as the fire was lit, it was snuffed out again. "I didn't ask to die. I didn't ask to be reborn. I…didn't ask to _be_ a Dark Signer," he whispered, slumping down upon his throne. Just hours after sitting so confidently upon it for the first time, the feel of it already disgusted him.

_What brought this on, My host? Surely the words of the old hag and the Signer leader have not led you astray?_

"That…among other things…" Jack mumbled, his eyes closed and his expression distraught.

_Well those are _lies,_ Jack Atlas. You became a Dark Signer to reign as this planet's King eternal…as was your birthright. You are on the cusp of your true destiny, My avatar; do not reject it at victory's very doorstep._

"No, _that_ is the lie!" Jack cried out, crushing part of his throne with his hand as he clenched it tight in anger. "I accepted my second life as the Dark King for one reason and for one reason alone – to be with Carly Nagisa, the woman I truly love! And yet…"

He sighed in an even mix of exasperation and confusion. "When she attacked me in the course of her mad vendetta against Izayoi, I think I finally realized it," he croaked hollowly, massaging the point on his wing joint where she had burned him. "This _isn't_ her. This isn't my Carly. This is some…some grotesque caricature of her, propped up by that fucking hummingbird. And it's not her fault, but…"

Pulling out his deck, Jack drew the top card and was not surprised to see _Earthbound God Wiraqocha Rasca._ "But I'm no different," he finished, letting the card float down to the ground.

…_Be _careful_ with that, My host! That card is My link to the Earth-plane!_

"Is that so?" Jack replied, unsure even to himself what sort of emotion he was presently expressing. They were all pretty much jumbling together. "Then maybe I should teach you a lesson in humility and tear it in two."

_Attempt to do so and I will return you to a lifeless corpse, Jack Atlas! Though perhaps not before I take direct control of your body and murder your "Queen" where she stands._

Jack's next words hung in his throat.

_Hmm…I thought that would suffice. Never threaten Me again, Jack Atlas. There is nothing waiting for you but anguish and suffering if you choose to continue down that path. Nothing._

"I can…I can still oppose you!" Jack shot back, although his voice was faltering. "I proved it tonight! My body is not the pathetic little plaything you claim it to be, condor!"

_You consider mind-splitting pain to be proof that I do _not_ control you, My host? How…curious._

"I do," declared the Dark King. "No matter how much agony you caused me…you couldn't force my hand. You couldn't make me kill Martha."

Jack wasn't usually privy to the Jibakushin's thoughts the way it was to his, but the outburst of pure fury that accompanied this statement was impossible to miss.

_You…you _dare_ to make such a challenge of Me?! Then perhaps I shall meet it!_

And there it was again – the overwhelming, all-consuming sensation of all the dark energy held within what now passed for his heart being released at once, coursing out in every direction as his veins bulged grotesquely. But there was something different this time.

Perhaps it was that he had been expecting it, at least somewhat. Perhaps the condor was simply too used to its host stepping aside without a fight. But whatever it was…

Purple energy coated Jack Atlas' eyes, and yet his mind remained his.

"I've…begun to realize…some things…" Jack grunted, fighting the God's control as intensely as he could. "A lie…I've been subsisting on a lie! A lie _you_ stoked…with…with all your might!"

_Impudent brat! Worthless mortal! I will not stand for this blather!_

"Blather, is it?!" Jack shouted, holding onto his throne for support as his wings began to involuntary jerk back-and-forth, knocking small objects to the ground and shattering them at his trembling feet. "It is truth! You…you tried…to convince me…that…that this was…the world…the world that I desired! That…that _Carly_ desired! It's you! _Just_…you! Filthy birds…playing us…like…pawns!"

There was a great silence following this outburst, and though he still maintained control, Jack felt somehow paralyzed by the pause. Then, finally, the condor spoke…low and tranquil, but with unmistakable fury coating every syllable.

…_I see. I have…reexamined certain portions of your mind, Jack Atlas. Portions which I overlooked once as meaningless or at least harmless in the grand scheme of this War…but which now I realize hold a sway upon your weak and pathetic mind that defies logic._

_I have tried to be patient, but it is clear now that your autonomy has grown to be a significant threat to Our goals. This, I cannot allow._

_You surrendered a great thing today, Jack Atlas. The most powerful alliance ever known to mortal or God alike. I cannot pretend that this does not…disappoint Me._

_But life – or rather, death – goes on._

_Goodbye, Jack Atlas. You will not be missed._

That was the last thing Jack Atlas heard before a great blackness erupted all around his consciousness – swallowing it, smothering it, until there was no longer a world around him to perceive.

[-]

Tetsu Ushio didn't find it particularly surprising that a cell made of ice and filled with ice furniture would be incredibly cold…but that didn't mean he had to like it.

After what had to have been at least five hours in this world – depending on how long he'd been out during the snowstorm – with no source of warmth whatsoever but the fire in Maihime's cottage, he was sure that his face had long-since turned blue. Certainly his fingers had, and though he tried to warm them with his breath, it appeared to make little difference.

The other problem, beyond the frigid temperatures, was that the cell contained no windows. As General Raiho had indicated that jailbreak was coming at sundown, this was something of an issue.

And of course, every minute he spent twiddling his thumbs in this cell was another minute that maniac could be getting away…and thus, another minute for said maniac to decide that his hostage wasn't worth keeping around any longer.

Ushio might've found it a little strange, in hindsight, that he was _this_ heavily invested in risking life and limb to rescue a man he barely knew; his only contacts with Saiga Madera previous to their recent "adventures" had been examining his home for evidence of involvement in City-Satellite human smuggling operations, which had always turned up zilch. Saiga was a decently frequent sight for all the Satellite beat officers, as the fact that he was "dirty" (from the law's standpoint, anyway) was pretty much common knowledge around the area, but without any proof beyond rumors and long-dead leads he'd always managed to turn Ushio and his fellows away with a smile and a wave.

Ushio pondered this for a bit. Then he stared for a fair bit longer at the mark emblazoned upon his arm.

Why it hit him so starkly there, he would never quite be sure…but in that moment, the sheer enormity of what those dull-red lines _meant_ came crashing down upon him.

Joining up with the Domino City Police Department – just as it was being rechristened the Public Security Maintenance Bureau – had been an…unusual move on his part. There'd been no one around to observe this fact, of course (his mother having finally suffered a fatal overdose shortly after he turned twenty), but it was pretty objectively true all the same. Tetsu Ushio, schoolyard bully extraordinaire, dedicating his life to public service…

Admittedly he'd been a hall monitor in his senior year at Domino High, but for the most part his tenure there had been little more than extra-sophisticated bullying. So _why_ had he chosen this life to lead?

Ushio hadn't exactly been off to a good start, career-wise, even after going back and completing his senior year. He was muscular and reasonably well-fit even then, which at least had proved enough for menial labor to keep a roof over his own head, but beyond that he didn't exactly have the best of prospects. Hell, nearly sixteen years out of when he should've graduated high school and he was still just a stockboy at a Domino City market…

Then had come the night when Hell visited Earth.

"…_reporting to you live here in Tokyo, Japan on May 27, 2011. Reports coming in from as far away as Texas, USA of tremors related to the earthquake that devastated Domino City earlier this morning, just a few months after a similar quake and tsunami caused untold damage to the Tōhoku region. Seismologists on hand were unable to confirm a possible connection between the disasters. We go now to a spokesman for Prime Minister Kan Naoto, who released the following statement just a few minutes ago…"_

_The television continued to blare the horrific news, but no one in the immediate vicinity heard it. At present, they were living it._

_It had come while most everyone in the city was deep asleep, Tetsu Ushio included – but not one soul in the city was in slumber anymore._

_Entire buildings had collapsed, leveled by the quake or by the torrential waters that thundered in from the bay. The bay itself was expanding dramatically, as well…a once calm and serene harbor now turned to an untamed beast, devouring anything and everything that dared be near its churning waters._

_There were fires in the streets, looters and vagrants running about and knocking over the raving old men and women who were just trying to find someone, _anyone,_ who would listen to them claim that it wasn't an earthquake at all, but a burst of pure light that had split the skies…_

_Pandemonium. Chaos. Anarchy. And at the center of it all, thirty-three year-old Tetsu Ushio, dumbstruck at how the only home he had ever known in his life was being reduced to the charred corpse of a city in less than a day._

_Ushio himself had been lucky, all things considered. He had been jerked awake by the sound of the ceiling in his bathroom collapsing – a little bit of happenstance that, had it occurred five meters northward, would've killed him instantly – and gotten out without too much issue. But he had no way to evacuate the city at present, as he did not own a car and it went without saying that all public transportation was down, so there was little he could think to do now but find a park bench and wait out the hours, his face cradled by his shaking fingers._

"_Mister…?" a small voice uttered, and without thinking Ushio turned his gaze downward at the little girl tugging on his shirt. His heart skipped a beat; she was missing a hand._

"_Mister, can you help me?" the girl whispered, her tiny voice trembling. "My mommy, she's…"_

_The girl didn't say anything else, but pointed at a burning building down the street. Ushio's eyes widened in horror and understanding – the firefighters and other emergency workers were far too overworked by the disaster to be counted on in this kind of neighborhood anytime soon._

_Still, Ushio's mouth opened to tell her that he was truly sorry, but he was no hero; that people needed the proper training for this kind of thing, and he simply didn't qualify; that she just couldn't walk up to random strangers on the street and expect them to risk their lives at the drop of a hat…_

_But instead what he said was, "Which floor?"_

_The soot and embers burned his unprotected eyes, causing him to blink rapidly when he could manage to keep them open at all. The heat itself seared his skin and the tips of every hair on his body, but even so Ushio pressed on, shouting the name the little girl had given him at the top of his lungs, full as they were rapidly becoming with smoke._

"_C…C'mon…ya gotta be in here!" he yelled, coughing violently as he inhaled a large cloud of gray. "I'm savin' ya, you hear me?! I'm savin' ya!"_

_And at that particular moment, Tetsu Ushio wasn't even beginning to consider _why_ he was so Hell-bent on making sure that poor girl's mother got out safe to see her daughter; there was nothing, indeed, in his mind apart from breaking down the brittle walls and jumping the gaps in the way of what was now his mission. Urgency had driven out everything else._

_He had no idea how long he spent punching – sometimes literally – through wall-after-wall of charred wood and collapsing stone, but eventually he found himself in a bedroom…or at least, what used to be one. Currently it was little more than a bunch of rubble atop a floor that looked ready to collapse at any second, flames dancing all around and obscuring Ushio's vision._

_But when he focused hard, he could just make it out: a middle-aged woman, pinned beneath the debris and out cold._

_Ushio burst forward, adrenaline pumping at full-blast as he zeroed in on his target. A few well-placed touches to portions of the woman's body revealed warm skin and a pulse, but he could not rouse her. So instead, with teeth gritted and feet firmly planted, he pulled with all his might and began extricating her from the rubble…piece-by-piece if necessary._

_Even with his burly frame, however, this was not turning out to be easy work…and he didn't exactly have much time to do it in. The fire continued to roar about him, its tentacles lashing to-and-fro and bringing down more and more of the building with each passing moment. The heat was becoming unbearable – a sweltering, suffocating force that was making him feel so, so tired…_

_It'd be so easy, to fall asleep now…to leave all this pain behind, both physically and mentally, and just _rest…

_And what would he be missing, anyway? There was no point to his life, and there hadn't been for decades. All he'd ever known had just gone up in smoke in a single night, and here he was trying to find something, _anything_ that made sense now, even if it meant risking life and limb for someone he had never met before in his life…_

_But then, if he had nothing to lose now…didn't it follow that he had everything to gain? It sounded like a silly little proverb at best, and yet…_

_Ushio stopped thinking about it, and placed every ounce of his strength into one final pull. And somehow, someway…the entire pile of debris gave way to his might, and the woman was free._

_Again, Ushio didn't stop to think about it, but simply slung the woman over his shoulder and raced across the most stable-looking ground he could find on the way to the stairwell. The situation was worsening with every second, and Ushio received a nasty burn to his right forearm from a surprise burst of flame that he couldn't dodge in time…but still, he ran, and ran, and ran. He ran past fire after fire without stopping to look, kicking aside every single object in his way as he focused with single-minded obsession on the ground-level door, getting closer and closer until…_

_They were out._

_The woman, it would eventually turn out, was a mid-level government employee, and with the Domino City Police Department significantly understaffed after the deaths and injuries accompanying the day now called Zero Reverse, she had given Ushio her strongest recommendation as it was being restructured into the Public Security Maintenance Bureau._

_Admittedly, the way he'd come into the position hadn't exactly endeared him to some of the department veterans, and he'd been assigned to the relatively unglamorous Satellite beat almost as soon as there _was_ a Satellite beat. But that mattered little to him. In a remarkably literal trial by fire, Ushio had dipped down into rock-bottom and come back up with his true calling…and made a little girl smile as she tearfully embraced her mother, besides. It didn't change the fact that he was still a wretched waste of space who was nowhere near making up for the myriad sins of his youth…but it was something, at least._

…_And if he hadn't appended that last bit of self-loathing, Tetsu Ushio might've been able to turn his eyes to the ground that night and no longer see yen where there should be litter._

Ushio shook his head. Where had _that_ final thought come from?

As if in answer, the tail of the Crimson Dragon peaked slightly. "Always got a response to everything, don't you?" he asked of it, mostly rhetorically. "But I guess, being omniscient and all…well, this'd all be up your alley, wouldn't it? _Still_ don't know the 'rules' of whatever Yugi did to me way-back-when, or why it broke yesterday and not some other time…but I guess if anyone would, it'd be you."

Ushio wasn't sure if the Dragon was actually hearing him or whether he was merely talking to his arm…but before he could sigh in exasperation at the possibility that it was just the latter, the sun finished spreading its last golden rays over the tundra outside, and simultaneously one of the prison walls exploded.

Filling the now-gaping hole in the wall was a small group of cloaked figures, either hooded or armored to conceal their identities. At the forefront of the formation were several mount-like lizard creatures, icy mist spewing from their maws, as well as a warrior bedecked in what very much looked like samurai armor, crafted from ice. At the rear were multiple individuals who, based on the trails of frost enveloping their hands, appeared to be sorcerers of some kind. This suspicion was more-or-less confirmed when the head figure directed them to extend their palms and "suck out" the ice from the bars of his cell, allowing the samurai to shatter them with ease with one swift sword-strike.

"Well now, don't just sit there!" said the head figure, whose voice Ushio immediately recognized as General Raiho's. But while he was not enormously surprised to see the councilman here to personally spring him from jail, he _was_ quite shocked to see the person at Raiho's right hand. Yes, her hood was still up and no, she hadn't yet spoken…but Ushio had always been fairly talented at reading body language, and hers was patently obvious.

"Maihime? Maihime, what're you doing here?" he demanded, getting up and running over to her and Raiho. "If your father finds out…"

"He _won't,_" Maihime interjected, her voice firm. "I spiked his evening cup of tea with a minute amount of deceased Granadora mucus."

"_What?!_" he cried out, remembering what she had told him while she was healing his wounds with the substance in question. "But didn't you say…?"

"…That it was a deadly toxin? Only in sufficient quantities," she explained. "With just a few droplets, it should only knock him out for a few hours. And by that time, you will be long gone, and none in this village will be the wiser."

"Isn't she just delightful?" Raiho quipped jovially, putting an arm around Maihime's shoulders. "But we have little time to discuss further, I'm afraid. The prison's far enough out of town that I don't think our…entry was noticed, but we shouldn't take chances. Follow me, otherworlder."

Ushio did what he was told, but as soon as their small team had marched some distance away from the prison he went back up to the general and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"We're going to take you straight through the village and over to the Shrine of Trishula," Raiho told him, squinting through the falling snow for possible threats. "It is the greatest spiritual locus of our entire dimension. There, my sorcerers should be able to harness the energy necessary to locate your friend via cryomancy. Speaking of which…"

He pulled out a crystalline pendant, shaped like a large blue snowflake, and hung it around Ushio's neck. "They used similar magicks to fashion this charm, my friend," he added. "It will block you from the sight of any who were not present when the spell was cast. We'll be hiding you in plain sight, Tetsu Ushio."

"Th…Thank you," Ushio stuttered, shivering as the pendant – also, naturally, made of ice – touched his chest. "I don't know what to say…"

"Then say nothing, my friend," Raiho replied with a smile, patting him on the shoulder before returning to Maihime's side. Ushio remained directly behind the two, with the sorcerers mounted upon the lizard creatures and surrounding him on all sides and the samurai bringing up the rear. From thence onward, especially as the icy huts of L'ad began to come into view, none of them spoke.

Their procession apparently went largely unnoticed as they marched through what appeared to be the commercial part of the village – dozens upon dozens of crystalline structures displaying hides or roasting meats for sale, with hundreds of merchants and patrons bandying about in one direction or the other. It helped that the cold seemed to mean that neither full-body cloaks nor elaborate armor were at all unusual attire for the denizens of the Ice Boundary, so they blended into the crowd quite well.

And since there didn't appear to be any uproar about an escaped prisoner, it looked like Raiho's charm was working like a…well, charm.

The first sign that something was amiss came when a young woman ran up to one of the larger storefronts and began flailing her arms, screaming something that Ushio couldn't quite make out.

Whatever the news was, however, it seemed to be traveling fast…and the original messenger was not the only one panicking. While Ushio hadn't the slightest idea what could be causing it, he had worked the Satellite beat enough to recognize the first stirrings of a riot when he saw them.

Fortunately however, what could've potentially been a rather ugly debacle seemed to be averted before it even started, thanks to the timely arrival of General Gantara and a couple of what Ushio supposed passed as police officers around here. The bald mystic climbed up to a nearby rooftop and sheathed his hand in some sort of crystalline gauntlet, waving it across the crowd, and as a flame-like blue aura trailed behind the gauntlet an overpowering sense of calm hit everyone present…Ushio included.

With everyone (forcibly) settled, Gantara then began to speak. "I regret greatly that I am compelled to deliver this message to you, citizens of L'ad…but nonetheless, such is my duty," he announced solemnly. "A great tragedy has struck our city – a tragedy more potent and more saddening than we have experienced in countless moons. For as some of you may have heard, our esteemed General Grunard – Head of Council and hero of the Battle of Eoreum – was found dead in his home earlier this day. My cryomancers have inspected the corpse thoroughly, and have determined the cause of death to be lethal ingestion of Granadora mucus."

Ushio turned to Raiho and Maihime; the former's face was unreadable, while the latter looked almost ready to collapse.

"No…" she whispered, sinking to her knees. "No, no, no, _no…_"

"It's not your fault, my love," Raiho murmured, only loud enough for her and Ushio to hear. "It was I who suggested such a dangerous gambit in the first place. Perhaps you used a drop or two more than I advised…perhaps he experienced some kind of allergic reaction…perhaps the poor man's old heart simply couldn't take even that small a dose. But either way, it was accident. Don't blame yourself."

"But…" Maihime choked out, but she seemed incapable of saying anything else. She simply cried quiet, frozen tears as Raiho embraced her, patting the weeping girl on the back.

"…And as I'm sure you all know, Granadora mucus is an extremely controlled substance, legally possessed only by our city's most esteemed healers," Gantara continued. "As acting Head of Council, I am commissioning a taskforce to investigate this leak and prosecute the individual or individuals responsible. Much as we may not want to acknowledge it…we must confront the possibility that this was a political assassination."

"It's that otherworlder!" shouted someone from within the crowd, and with that the villagers instantly became quite a bit rowdier. "It must be him! The Princess has brought us an agent of death!"

"That is certainly…one possibility that we are considering," General Gantara responded, while Ushio involuntarily shrank back. "But let me assure all of you that…"

Gantara never got to finish that sentence, however, on account of the arrow that chose that moment to sail straight through his head.

The reaction was immediate, and it was not particularly pleasant. What had been a crowd on the verge of rioting lost that "verge" in an instant, running in all directions with screams of terror or vengeful fury on their breaths, pushing and shoving at whoever didn't happen to get out of their way in time. Those unlucky souls seemed to include quite a few women and children, and Ushio swore under his breath as a package-laden mother was knocked known by a mob of ten, her young daughter losing her grip on her hand and slamming hard into the snow…directly in the mob's path.

Ushio didn't think about his current situation for an instant, but rather thought of another little girl, half-a-dozen worlds and over sixteen years away…

And as he did then, acting purely upon instinct, Tetsu Ushio barreled through and seized both mother and daughter, pulling them out of harm's way in the nick of time.

The move was not without cost, however. In his effort to push past Raiho's party and the others in his way in time, Ushio hadn't been paying much of any attention to his attire…and wound up hooking the charm around his neck on a passing monster's arm, wrenching it clean off as he dove for the victims.

"It's…it's here!" someone screamed.

"It's _free!_ Trishula help us all!" cried another.

"It must've used magic to hide while it killed Grunard and Gantara! Slay that murderer! Blood for blood!" exclaimed a spirit in flowing robes who brandished a sword.

"Yeah! _Kill it!_" cheered several other members of the crowd in unison, and within an instant dozens of weapons were trained on Ushio's chest. The mother and her child took that opportunity to utter horrified screeches – though whether they were from the rioting townspeople or from the fact that they'd been saved by an apparently homicidal criminal, Ushio wasn't sure. Nevertheless, the both of them fled without a word, leaving Ushio alone against a wall.

"Enough of that! We do not conduct citizens' arrests in L'ad!" another voice declared with firm conviction, and Ushio turned to see General Raiho approach him in his more formal wear, evidently having ditched the cloak with Maihime somewhere nearby. "Instead, as _new_ acting Head of Council…"

Then Raiho drew his own war fans and slashed them around expertly, before seizing Ushio in a hold and training one fan across his neck. "…You may leave him to _me,_" he finished, his voice low and dangerous.

"Are…are you sure, sir?" asked the samurai who had been traveling with them, his voice surprisingly soft. "If something should happen…"

"I can handle myself just fine, Mononōf," said Raiho. "Humans are weak and pathetic creatures…and if this one somehow _did_ manage to kill my beloved colleagues, it was only with the element of surprise on its side. Rest assured, my men and I will get to the bottom of this…and exact justice for these horrendous crimes. I swear it."

He began dragging Ushio away from the crowd, surrounded by his allies, before bending down and whispering, "My apologies, but this was the only way I could think to safely extract you. Just play along for now, otherworlder."

The gambit appeared to have worked, largely; still extremely panicked by the deaths of two of their leaders, the citizens of L'ad seemed quite eager to turn over all control of the situation to the one remaining authority figure they could see, and no one seemed to be questioning _why_ Raiho was taking Ushio in personally, or where their party was "escorting" him to.

Within several minutes they had exited the most bustling part of L'ad and were merely seeing a handful of residences on either side now, apparently having returned to the path they had been walking before. With the occasional monster still passing them by Raiho didn't dare release him, but the basic "hiding in plain sight" concept remained in place.

The group still was not talking to each other, but though they weren't even exchanging eye contact Ushio's gaze remained trained on Maihime the whole time. The poor girl still looked at best a few seconds away from fainting – and how could she not, when she'd just learned that she had essentially murdered her own father? Ushio didn't blame her, of course, and evidently Raiho didn't either…but based on the way she was throwing off the general's attempts to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, she didn't quite agree.

Ushio let out a low sigh, and wordlessly they all proceeded toward the edge of L'ad, closer and closer to the frozen tundra that masked their destination.

[-]

"I want specifics on this enemy, mademoiselle," Sherry Leblanc requested of Mikage Sagiri as they rushed side-by-side to the front of the house, having been alerted by Mizoguchi's signal just a few seconds prior.

"Well…as I said before, his name is Professor Frank Adler. A world-renowned expert in the field of psychology, and an incredibly potent duelist besides," Mikage answered, huffing it at her top pace to keep up with the athletic Frenchwoman. "He's…different now, though. I don't entirely understand _how_…but he seems to have gained the ability to regenerate damage from wounds, up to and including a point-black shot to the spine."

"I see," Sherry muttered, her expression unreadable. "Any known weaknesses?"

"His…_abilities_ seem to be drawing from a black feather stuck in his chest. It's rather hard to miss," said Mikage. "This is only a guess, but perhaps if we can remove it…"

"Got it. Merci," Sherry replied tersely as they both arrived at Kenji Mizoguchi's side. The perpetually scowling butler appeared to be performing maintenance on his Duel Disk, making certain that all of its numerous weapons and attachments were in working condition.

"My lady. Mikage-san," he greeted them in entirely staid tones, before taking another glance outside the only not-completely-boarded-up window in the house. "Our target is approaching the front gate at a slow walk. If he progresses on a straight path, he should trigger the same trap we nearly fell into earlier."

"As I recall, those traps were manually activated," Sherry pointed out.

"She's right there, old friend…but that shouldn't stop us," came a creaky voice from behind them, and all three turned their heads to see Tetsuzo Kuzuyama hobble into the room.

"Tetsuzo? You should be in bed," Mizoguchi told him, more an observation than strictly a reprimand.

"Ack, I'll have time for that when I'm old," dismissed Tetsuzo with an exaggerated wave of the hand, before groaning in pain from a muscle the action has apparently pulled. "Well, _older,_ anyway. But that girl just brought some kids here, so even if I don't understand any of this stuff one bit, I'm with you one-hundred percent."

"Where _are_ the children, anyhow?" asked Mikage.

"Believe it or not, I _did_ once observe basic safety protocols here…a long time ago," Tetsuzo explained, looking wistful for a moment before shaking his head. "I constructed an underground shelter outta my cellar back when I was still doing sculptures, in case one of the larger ones…"

A loud crash as yet another pile of junk in the yard collapsed appeared to finish the sentence for him.

"Well…yeah. Anyway…they're in there," Tetsuzo added, a little awkwardly.

"Good to know, monsieur. But I think we're getting sidetracked," said Sherry, casting a glance past Mizoguchi out the window. Their enemy was quite visible to all now, though he was still – mercifully – taking his time plodding through the fields of scrap.

Tetsuzo took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, little girl. I'll get into position," he declared, before striding confidently toward the door.

"Wait!" Mikage exclaimed, and the old man turned back accordingly. In response she readied Ushio's pistol and moved to his side. "I'm going out there with you."

"And I as well, then," Sherry interjected, cracking her knuckles.

"My lady, you broke your leg only several hours ago. You're in no condition for battle," Mizoguchi stated sternly, causing Mikage to do a double-take. Sure enough, heavy bandaging covered one of the blonde's shapely knees, and while she wasn't limping as she moved around, it was clearly only from a concerted effort not to. Her earlier bout of sprinting, then, looked to be all the more impressive…or all the more foolish and reckless. Probably both, honestly.

Sherry, for her part, didn't seem in the mood to dignify that reprimand with an answer, and so Mizoguchi sighed and fell in line behind the two young women. "I'll only acquiesce to this because I know you will not yield, my lady…and because we're rapidly running out of time," Mizoguchi said, somewhat wearily. "Let us face this foe en-force…and hope that that shall be enough."

"_Running_ out of time? My dear fellow, you've exhausted it all," whispered another voice from within the entryway, and all four turned with widened eyes to see the foe in question, his arms crossed behind his back and his expression perfectly calm…apart from his bulging eyes, which looked so distinct from the rest of his face that they scarcely seemed human.

The professor then seized this moment of stunned surprise to snatch the handgun out of Mikage's hands and crack it in two with his hands. "You really ought not to get so bogged down in banter before a battle," he quipped. "All it takes is a tiny bit of teleportation, and…"

But Professor Frank did not finish that sentence, because Sherry Leblanc took that opportunity to aim a punch straight at his face. The professor managed to dodge the blow at the last moment, but doing so in his current uniform threw him off balance, and he nearly fell over as he backed away.

"Take your own advice, salopard," spat Sherry, adopting a battle stance as she did. "Everyone, surround him!"

While Tetsuzo still seemed stunned by the maniac's sudden appearance – and at his age, Mikage couldn't really blame him – she and Mizoguchi nodded to Sherry and fulfilled her instructions, flanking Professor Frank to either side. Truthfully she felt a little naked without Ushio's service pistol, especially compared with the "Swiss Army Duel Disk" (as she'd internally dubbed it) held by the man across from her…but she wasn't about to make that obvious to Frank if she didn't have to.

Still the closest to their target, Sherry struck at him first, but with his footing regained Professor Frank did a much better job of deftly dodging her this time, his arms still tauntingly crossed behind his back. Her technique, meanwhile, was ferocious but also clearly highly practiced; Mikage immediately recognized her principal style as Northern Shaolin kung fu, full of strong kicks and aggressive advancement of territory.

Frank, on the other hand, was evidently not much of a practitioner of the martial arts…although again, his outfit probably had a lot to do with his inability to counter her. Instead he was simply backing away, sidestepping or ducking out of every blow but never striking back.

"Clearly you have me outclassed, my dear," Professor Frank observed, glancing back briefly to see that he was dangerously close to being backed into a corner. "But any good psychologist knows that everything – and everyone – has a breaking point."

Then, without further warning, he caught Sherry in a high kick and struck her bandaged knee hard…and though she tried to ignore the overwhelming stab of pain spreading throughout her body, the Frenchwoman was unable to keep herself from letting out a gasp and crumbling.

Mizoguchi moved like lightning; within seconds he was between Frank and the downed Sherry, a long sword extending from the center of his Duel Disk. "That was a mistake, professor," he murmured, before slamming his opponent full-on into the opposite wall and forcing the sword up against his neck.

"Kenji Mizoguchi. It's been too long," said Professor Frank, still as calm and staid as ever.

"Not nearly long enough," returned Mizoguchi, matching his expression.

"You…know this monstre?" asked Sherry, being helped back up to her one working foot by Mikage.

"An Yliaster agent. High-level, but not in the upper echelons," Mizoguchi informed her, causing her expression to flare. It took all of Mikage's strength to keep the crippled girl from attacking the pinned professor in that moment.

"We met in Prague, as I recall," Frank offered, continuing to smile even as the edge of the sword pressed up tight against his flesh. "Somehow I'd attracted the attentions of Interpol. Cannot _possibly_ imagine why…"

"Secret cloning experiments? Super-powered soldiers? _Mind control_ technology? None of that rings a bell?!" thundered Mizoguchi, raising his voice for the first time since Mikage had met the man. The change in tone was certainly…effective.

"And I'll tell you now what I told you then, my dear fellow," Frank replied simperingly. "I'm but a mere psychologist, albeit a world-renowned one. I simply don't have the expertise for such things."

"You may not have been _personally_ conducting the experiments…but your handiwork was all over their direction," Mizoguchi pressed on. "You are a sick man, Adler. A researcher without a shred of ethics. A _murderer._"

"Ah, ah, ah," Professor Frank cut in, shaking his head and thus grazing his neck along the edge of the blade. "Again, _so_ presumptive. I've never murdered anyone in my life."

"And _again,_ perhaps you haven't done so personally…but you've ordered them, haven't you?" demanded Mizoguchi, his grip on Frank still iron-tight. "How many of Yliaster's victims lie dead because you declared it so?"

Frank merely smiled…before turning his eyes toward Sherry and twitching his mouth slightly. The message was clear, and Sherry instantly went feral at the implications.

"_You!_" she snarled, wrenching herself away from Mikage and swinging a fist at Professor Frank's face, which connected perfectly despite her far-from-perfect balance. Blood splattered upon her knuckles as a sickening crack told them all that the psychologist's nose had broken.

It did not last long, however. Seconds after the nose deformed, energy was already pulsating within the feather carried by Frank's chest, and the flesh and sinew was repairing itself accordingly. Remembering Mikage's advice, Sherry tried to subvert this process by grasping the feather and attempting to withdraw it…a decision she greatly regretted a moment later, as a great wave of violet radiation burst forth and sent the young blonde flying.

"Hmm…interesting. I had no idea it could even do that," commented Professor Frank, as casually as if he'd just learned of an amusing new application on his phone.

"You…hurt my lady," spoke Mizoguchi, his voice now low and dangerous, as he watched Mikage again prop up the – now unconscious – Sherry against the opposite wall. "Hurt my lady, might I add, while I have a longsword tucked against your neck. So did you really think this through, Professor?"

"Perhaps not," admitted Frank. "But I improvise well."

Professor Frank had moved fast before, both when he'd crushed Ushio's handgun and when he'd incapacitated Sherry, and Mizoguchi was prepared accordingly…but what he did next _far_ exceeded any conventional definition of the term "fast." Within half a second he had thrust his entire weight forward, knocking Mizoguchi slightly off-balance, and ducked down at a nearly impossible angle to pass under the blade like some strange game of limbo.

…And within half a second more, he'd pressed his chest into Mizoguchi's, causing the battle-hardened butler to fly back as well, barely missing the still-paralyzed Tetsuzo.

"Really, that _is_ a wonderful trick. I wonder if any of the other Children have figured it out?" Frank softly mused. "Although given the general caliber of their poor, damaged minds…I would wager my guess as to the negative."

"You are one to speak of damaged minds," hissed Mikage, dragging Mizoguchi's body off to the side to join Sherry's.

"Oh, yes…you're still here too, aren't you?" Frank said, his lip curled. "Forgive me. I was rather too distracted by your friends dropping like flies to notice you, my dear."

Deciding not to give him the satisfaction of further banter, Mikage stood up and assumed her own combat stance. Professor Frank merely tilted his head slightly at the sight of this and strode forward, calmly catching her fist when it flung out to meet him.

"Sloppy. _Very_ sloppy," he chastised, almost crushing her wrist as his grip tightened. "I'm sure you have potential, and you _certainly_ have the attitude…but unfortunately for you, Mikage Sagiri, you lack the experience. But nonetheless…"

And here he suddenly pulled her forward and caught her in a tight, suffocating embrace, forcing his chest into hers and cackling madly as she screamed in pain…

"…You _do_ have something I need," he finished, tossing her barely conscious body to the ground and heading off for the door without a second glance to the still-frozen Tetsuzo.

"Limited mind-reading? Oh, the possibilities are enough to make even _my_ mind boggle. I just wish I'd figured it out sooner…but no matter," Professor Frank mused as he left, Mikage's mind struggling to remain active enough to perceive his words. "I've still got what I came for. No more need for hostages or blackmail. Oh, she may be too far away for teleportation at the moment, but it should be no more than a half-hour by foot…"

Then, before he closed the door on them, Frank cast one final, widely grinning look back at Mikage and added, "My utmost gratitude, Mikage Sagiri. Thanks to your beautifully transparent mind…the little bitch dies tonight."

There was more of that insane laughter, echoing across the chambers of Mikage's violated brain…and then silence.

[-]

_(Nicolas Verbrechen: 17,400 LP – Barbara Vasquez: 17,100 LP)_

_(Taro Yamashita: 4000 LP – Yoshizo Hayashi: 4000 LP – Jinbei Tanigawa: 4000 LP – Jean Aramis: 1000 LP – Breo Athos: 2000 LP – Andore Porthos: 1000 LP – Jin Himuro: 4000 LP – Tenzen Yanagi: 4000 LP – Leo Laruto: 4000 LP – Soichi Kazama: 1000 LP)_

"Mein Zug!" shouted Nicolas, a vein in his temple pulsing furiously. "Und because I control no Spells or Traps, my _Inverz Scout_ returns to my command!"

A black ball shot out from Nicolas' Graveyard at these words, slowly unfolding into the goggle-eyed beetle _Hypnocorn_ had destroyed a few turns ago. "_Scout_ may be the only monster I'm allowed to Special Summon this turn…but that is all I need," he said with a sneer. "I release it to Advance Summon _Inverz Moth!_"

While the half-German's latest monster wasn't quite as intimidating as his enormous _Gilafer,_ it nonetheless struck quite the imposing sight. Backed by four broad wings and armed with slim laser cannons on its arms and tail, it spiraled around its master's field with as much grace as was possible at its large size, targeting reticules extending from each barrel and passing over the fields of the four opponents who currently possessed cards.

"You might notice my _Moth_ taking aim at your sorry excuses for monsters, Arschlöcher," Nicolas continued. "Und that's because a mere 1000 Life Points is necessary to arm _Inverz Moth_ und send two of your cards straight back to the hand. Und since only one of you has played a single worthwhile monster so far…"

Nicolas merely finished his sentence by making "shooting" motions with his hand at _Green Baboon_ and _Voltic Bicorn,_ and Breo spent about a second rolling his eyes before the shots fired from two of _Moth's_ cannons and blasted both monsters backward. Breo braced himself for impact, but as they turned back into beams of light before returning to their respective cards, he was able to hold his stance.

"Urgh…anything else?" asked Breo, putting up his most nonchalant grin and standing up straight to meet their opponents' sole monster.

"For you? Hardly," Nicolas scoffed. "Your last remaining monster is in Defense Position mit 0 DEF points, so there's hardly any fun to be had in crushing _it._ But it looks like your precious leader has so helpfully provided a pathetic fuzzball of his own to slaughter…so _Inverz Moth,_ avenge _Scout,_ won't you? Invasion Sniper!"

For the second time in so many turns, Jean's life was in literal crosshairs; the difference between _Inverz Moth's_ ATK and _Hypnocorn's_ was 1000…exactly the amount remaining in his store of Life Points.

The Frenchman barely even flinched, however, as he flipped Team Kizuna's last remaining face-down card. "Trap Card, open! _Beast Riser!_" he announced.

The other former members of Team Unicorn gave simultaneous whoops in response to this play, and Breo responded to Jean's request of, "Now, mind if I borrow your _Rampaging Bicorn?_" with a nod and thumbs-up.

And as soon as he did, the monster turned into red energy that was absorbed into the Permanent Trap and redirected into _Hypnocorn,_ which glowed brilliantly with the power. "Here's what the deal is with this card, _mein Freund,_" explained Jean, his voice dripping with condescension. "By removing one Beast-Type monster from play, I am able to take all of its ATK points and transfer them into another. And since _Hypnocorn_ and _Rampaging Bicorn_ are technically on two separate fields right now, doing so won't trigger a replay…meaning the 'fuzzball' your _Moth_ just picked a fight with has 3300 ATK points."

Though its innocent, catlike expression never faltered, _Hypnocorn_ grew to about ten times its original size as the energy continued to pour into it, shrugging off _Inverz Moth's_ laser shot and retaliating with a massive pounce. Unable to do anything else, Nicolas watched in barely contained fury as his monster shattered, sliding a face-down into his Duel Disk and then ending his turn with another barrage of German swearwords.

"Alright, enough of that! Time to light this candle!" Andore cried out, flipping his hand around after drawing. "No Spell Cards here, _amiga._ So I guess you're a tad out-o'-luck."

"Just get on with it," snapped Barbara, eliciting a cheeky grin from the redhead.

"Gladly," he replied. "Well, since I control no monsters, I can discard a card to Special Summon _Scholarly Unicorn!_"

The sight of the tall, dignified creature wearing glasses and carrying a heavy tome in its mouth would've been quite amusing under any other circumstance, but given the severity of the situation Andore moved onto his next move without comment. "Then I Normal Summon the Tuner monster _Unicorn Familiar…_and you should know what that means, folks!" he declared with a flourish, the imp-like creature turning into green rings almost the moment it touched the field. "Galloping in Heavens like thunder, crisscrossing them like a mighty gale, appear forth from the World of Myth and Legend! Synchro Summon! Neigh, _Thunder Unicorn!_"

While _Thunder Unicorn_ wasn't quite as powerful as its two-horned cousin in terms of pure ATK strength, it held its own quite well in the formidability of its appearance. Cracks of electricity raining down onto the field as it galloped in spirals, Andore smugly informed his opponents, "Oh, and because _Scholarly Unicorn_ was used in a Beast-Type monster's Synchro Summon, my _Unicorn_ gains 1000 ATK _and_ can attack twice during this turn!"

"And it won't be alone!" added Jean. "I'll use my _Beast Riser_ to add _Hypnocorn's_ ATK points to _Thunder Unicorn_ as well!"

If the procession of colorful unicorns had been rather amusing to Nicolas and Barbara – and based on their expressions, that seemed likely – then the two were no long smiling in derision as Andore's Synchro Monster reared up on its hind-legs, its horn glowing bright with a total ATK power of 4600.

"Now, there are a couple ways I could do this…but ultimately, only one of you is doing much in the way of summoning monsters. The sooner we split up this dream-team, the better," said Andore, tapping a finger to his chin in thought. "So _Thunder Unicorn_…use both your attacks on Nicolas! Thunder Spear!"

"_Raaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhh…!_" roared Nicolas as he was shot with a double-dose of potent lightning, his Life Point total dropping all the way down to a mere 6300 as he collapsed to his knees in pain.

"Not so tough now that you're on the receiving end, are you?" Jinbei asked, his eyes narrowed. "Maybe you should've thought of that before…"

The blue-haired duelist's taunt, however, was cut short by a horrible, wheezing sound coming from Nicolas' field…and as Team Kizuna soon realized, from Nicolas' own throat. Progressively the throaty guffaws grew louder and shriller, until finally the half-German was back to his feet, his eyes bulging and the feather in his chest pulsing madly.

He continued to laugh.

"Heh heh heh…danke schön, you little worms," he rasped, so inhumanly that even Barbara seemed to be taken aback. "That…may have hurt…but it's _nothing_ compared to the pain you all are about to experience. Trap Card, open! _Invasion Armada!_"

The Trap, which featured a horde of massive black-and-gold creatures surrounding a _Marauding Captain,_ seemed to be pulsing in time with the feather in Nicolas' chest, and he cackled triumphantly as he explained, "During the End Phase of a turn this card is played, I am allowed to Special Summon 'Inverz' monsters from my hand or deck with mit ATK points exactly equal to the Battle Damage I took this turn. Their effects may be negated, but that matters little to me. For mit 9200 ATK points to choose from…I have already won."

"I'll…place two cards face-down," muttered Andore, before flipping his palm to indicate the changing of the turn. All of them were on-edge, as none of Team Kizuna – not even the pro-duelists – had much experience in judging what an _Inverz_ deck might be capable of.

"Sehr gut, then," hissed Nicolas. "Und now…this ends."

Slowly, with deliberation, Nicolas Verbrechen closed his right hand into a fist…and with that, his Trap Card quite literally exploded with energy. Darkly hued lightning crackled around the field as black-and-purple silhouettes began to emerge from the epicenter, coalescing slowly into a number of insectoids of varying sizes and shapes – from a tiny pinecone-like metallic blob to a towering mass of armor and muscles, dwarfing even the powered-up _Thunder Unicorn_ in size.

"Allow me to introduce the army you have so graciously gifted me, Arschlöcher," he pronounced with a wide gesture. "From the smallest to the mightiest, you have my _Inverz All-Purpose Form…Sentinel…Gatekeeper…_our old friend _Gilafer…_und finally, the unstoppable _Inverz Horn._ Savor the next two turns of the duel, C-listers…for they shall be your last."

"You know, if you weren't so damn attractive when you're being psychopathic, I'd have to whip you for sounding so trite and cliché," Barbara commented snidely, laughing a little bit herself. "But enough about that…it is _my_ move, now. Draw!"

Taking a sideways glance at the five monsters lined up to her right, she glanced at the card she had topdecked and then slid it into her Duel Disk. "Turn end," she said with a small smirk.

"That all?" demanded Jin Himuro, and Barbara winked suggestively in response. Jin made a derisive noise with his tongue and drew, saying "…shit" under his breath as he revealed it to be a Spell Card.

He barely flinched as _The Eye of Truth_ shot him directly through the heart, intent on not giving his opponents the satisfaction. Instead, the former pro-duelist activated the Spell in question, shouting, "I play _Jar of Ushi Oni!_ This Special Summons an _Ushi Oni_ straight from my deck…just so long as I don't use it for an Advance or Synchro Summon."

Out of the clay jar that Himuro had played, a bull-like demon emerged with a great roar, but it did not remain for long as he followed up that declaration with, "Next, I release _Ushi Oni_ in order to Special Summon _Great Ushi Oni!_ And to join it, I'll also be bringing out _Wisp of Ushi Oni!_"

With that the first minotaur was replaced by a second, blue-skinned and mounted atop eight spindly spider legs. Next to it was a small pyre of blue flame, which enveloped the _Great Ushi Oni_ in a massive aura, the creature raising its arms and bellowing menacingly as it grew even larger.

"_Wisp of Ushi Oni_ is a Union Monster," Jin explained as a holographic meter showing his monster's ATK strength ticked up to 3600. "By turning it into an Equip Card, my _Great Ushi Oni_ gains 1000 ATK and the ability to remove anything it kills from play. Coupled with its natural effect to attack a second time if it destroys a monster in battle, you've got one nasty demon coming for your blood right now."

"I hate to admit it, but…impressive, blue-hair," Nicolas responded after a few seconds. "Too little, too late…but impressive. Got the Eier to finish the job?"

"Assuming that means what I think it means…what do you think, buddy? _Great Ushi Oni,_ take down his _Inverz Horn!_ Specter's Bite!"

With that, the bull-demon sprang forward with a great extension of all eight of its legs, ready to devour Nicolas' strongest monster whole…but before it could strike its target, a verdant barrier appeared between the two monsters, and _Great Ushi Oni_ was forced to retreat.

"_Acid Barrier,_" Barbara sneered, snapping her whip in front of her recently activated Permanent Trap. "It allows me to negate one attack per turn…but don't worry. You get a nice 1000 Life Points to make up for it."

Himuro braced himself as droplets spilled from the barrier, passing through the mist of _Bad Reaction to Shimocchi_ and becoming corrosive as it struck his skin. The acid burned – and unfortunately, it seemed that the effect had been simulated to the degree that the burning sensation persisted – but the former pro-duelist matched his teammates and shrugged it off with a snort. "Meh…tickles," he said in carrying tones, and whether or not they were convinced several of his teammates chuckled in solidarity. "One face-down of my own and that's it for me."

"Very well, then. Und now…it is time to deliver die tödlichen Schlag," whispered Nicolas, still chuckling hoarsely. "It is the end of the line; nothing you Arschlöcher can do can possibly save you now. Certainly not all ten of you, at least. I draw!"

Studying his cards for no more than a second, Nicolas proceeded to observe, "Formidable as my armada remains, I shall have to admit that none of them can quite vanquish that _Great Ushi Oni_ of yours. But thankfully, this deck is just _full_ of surprises. I release my _Inverz All-Purpose Form_ und _Inverz Sentinel!_"

The effect of this summon on the surrounding area was both immediate and rather disconcerting. Both monsters melted into a strange black sludge which pulsed with electricity, the puddle they merged into growing wider and building taller until it cast a shadow over the entire field. The zombies outside the barrier, which most of Team Kizuna had managed to block out of their minds with their recent string of good turns, seemed all drawn by the sight…and their attentions were not diverted when the sludge oozed off the sleek black form of an even _larger_ beetle-like warrior, its sharp claws and enormous wings stretching around the field.

"Meet _Inverz Gasath,_" Nicolas told them, laughing again. "He's rather annoyed that it's taken so long for us to invite him to diese Partei, so I'm afraid he might just start lashing out. For when he's Summoned by releasing two 'Inverz' monsters…either all of the Spells und Traps, or all of the monsters apart from himself, are wiped clean from the field. Und I believe I shall choose the latter."

Shocked faces greeted _Inverz Gasath_ as it screeched violently, its wings spread wide in order to slowly gather up massive gusts of wind. Each player immediately found themselves on far less surer footing as the gusts picked up both speed and intensity…everyone except for Nicolas himself, who appended, "Oh, und one more thing. With the Instant Spell _Invasion Cloak,_ all of my 'Inverz' monsters are protected from any sort of destruction this turn. So it looks like we won't be losing _anything,_ meine Herren und Dame…but the same cannot be said for you. At least three of you _die_ this turn."

"Not quite!" interjected Himuro, pressing the button to activate his team's only remaining set card. "Reveal, _Bargain with the Youkai!_ With this, if a monster I control is gonna be destroyed, I can remove all the monsters on my field from play until the End Phase…and in return, you can't attack until then, either!"

"You're going to run out of these fucking stall tactics sooner or later, Scheißwichser!" Nicolas practically snarled as _Key Mace, Ancient Tree of Enlightenment, Thunder Unicorn, _and _Great Ushi Oni_ were all surrounded by ethereal spirits and temporarily snatched away.

Admittedly, the move hadn't been without cost – being treated as a Spell Card now, _Wisp_ hadn't been able to make the trip with the rest and so instead was destroyed – but overall, he was rather satisfied with the rise he'd gotten out of their male opponent. As high as the stakes were now, there was something almost comical about his hair-trigger temper…although that was also part of what made him so dangerous right now.

"End…turn…" said Nicolas through clenched teeth, and with that Team Kizuna's field was restored.

Just in time for…

"My draw, sonnies!" called out Tenzen Yanagi, leaping up and clapping his heels together as if in celebration. "And I'm gonna start off with…"

"Hold on there!" yelled Barbara. "Aren't you _forgetting_ something, you senile bastard?"

"Uh…" began Yanagi, a puzzled expression upon his face. He appeared to think the scenario several times over in his mind before concluding, "…Nope. Nothin' springs to mind."

Barbara rolled her eyes and cracked her whip in front of _The Eye of Truth_ as if to emphasize it.

"Oooooooh…" Yanagi said slowly, scratching his head. "Yeah…here's the thing. I haven't actually ended my Standby Phase, so that thingy don't kick in yet. I was gonna play an Instant Spell, ya see…and as Turn Player, I do got the priority to do it first…"

"Then just get it _over_ with!" shouted Barbara, clearly irritated by his professorial tone.

"I play _Pyramid of ChaxIxChel!_" he pronounced with a rather excessive amount of glee. "By discardin' one card, this awesome Spell allows me to Special Summon three of my precious Ancient Treasures: _Crystal Skull, Cabrera Stone,_ and _Ashoka Pillar!_"

Yanagi gave a great grin and a "V for victory" sign as a transparent skull, a slab of ebon rock, and a stone tower all surrounded an enormous Mayan pyramid. "Plus, my _Pyramid_ negates the effects of the monsters it Summons on the field…so _Crystal Skull_ won't damage me like it normally would!" he explained further.

"Wait a second…let me get this straight," Barbara demanded. "Your own card damages _you?_"

"Yup! Kinda the deck theme, dearie!" Yanagi replied cheerfully.

"And you're using such a deck…to face a burn deck," she worked out in slow, clearly dumbfounded tones. "…_Wow._ There's stupid, and then there's _stupid…_"

"Not sure that's the tune you'll be singin' in a second, dearie!" Yanagi cut in, playing another Instant Spell. "I also play _Infinite Reflection Doll!_ After an effect of my own that'd damage me is activated – and keep in mind, only my _Crystal Skull's_ resolution was negated, not its activation – I can double that damage, and in exchange, reflect all _further_ Effect Damage this turn to my opponent! And since the original damage was negated, I pretty much get the positive effect for free!"

Yanagi's attempt at exposition wasn't as accessible as it perhaps could've been, and Barbara had to turn this explanation over in her mind a couple of times before it clicked…at which point her eyes narrowed and she murmured, "_Mierda._"

"So now it's time to end my Standby Phase by showin' my hand…and I still got a Spell, so that's 1000 Life Points for me becomin' 1000 damage for me becomin' 1000 damage for _you!_ Apologies, dearie!" narrated Yanagi as the beam from _The Eye of Truth_ ricocheted and struck Barbara in the chest. "And next, I'm sacrificin' my _Crystal Skull_ in order to bring out _Crystal Skeleton_ in Defense Mode!"

Replacing the jewel-encrusted cranium was another one, though this time attached to other "bones" of similar material. Though rather large and boasting of a hefty 3300 DEF, however, this latest monster still did not break the former archaeologist's streak of 0 ATK monsters…but _why_ became clear fairly quickly.

"Since I used _Crystal Skull_ as the release, _Crystal Skeleton_ let's me draw two cards! And now…" Yanagi stated, his grin continuing to widen, "…I play the Spell Card _Thunder Crash!_"

"…_Mierda!_" Barbara repeated, backing away a few steps.

"What's so threatening about that worthless piece of Scheiße?" Nicolas asked her with a roll of his eyes. "He's nuking his own field merely to deal you a paltry…what? 900 points of damage?"

"Haven't you been paying _any_ attention, imbécil?" Barbara fired back, now about as enraged as her partner had been a couple turns ago. "The destruction of his field is the _point!_"

"Exactly," said Yanagi and several other members of Team Kizuna in unison as storm-clouds gathered over the elderly man's Ancient Treasures. Then a bolt of lightning struck.

Although the bolt itself barely grazed Barbara – inflicting, as Nicolas had put it, a paltry 900 points of damage – the shrapnel from the exploding stone, pillar, and skeleton was a different story entirely. A positive _avalanche_ of rock and rubble poured onto her out of the ensuing debris, with each destroyed card taking a chunk of Life Points, redirected to her by the _Infinite Reflection Doll,_ with it…1000, 2000, and 3000 points respectively.

In total, the single move had dented their female opponents' store of Life Points by 6900…and coupled with the 1000 more he had dealt from reflecting _The Eye of Truth,_ this left Barbara with only 9200. This was still quite a fair amount, of course…but nonetheless, it was still a far cry from her original 20,000.

"One card face-down and that's it for me, sonnies!" Yanagi cried out cheerfully, apparently either not noticing or not caring that he'd just done the most damage out of any player on his team other than Breo.

"Ah, wunderbar," intoned Nicolas, so dryly that no one could really determine whether or not he was being sarcastic. "Und now, mit all these distractions _finally_ out of the way…can we get back on mit you people dying? I was rather looking forward to that part. Meine Zicke, if you would do the honors?"

"Gladly," Barbara returned, her eyes narrowed at Yanagi. She snapped her whip in his general direction and caused him to yelp, before hissing derisively and drawing a card. "Oh, this should be fun. First, I use the Spell _Jar of Heritage!_ By removing three cards with the same name in my Graveyard from play, this lets me draw two cards…and I'd say my _Gift Cards_ will work just fine."

Drawing again, she cackled for a few seconds before continuing, "And…I believe I'll follow that little number up with _Hand Seizure!_ This allows me to declare one card in another player's hand…and then, if they're holding it, it has to go straight to the field. And I choose my favorite foul-tempered boy toy here. Any chance you've got an _Inverz Madith_ in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

"I would say both, assuming we can take care of these irritating…distractions…shortly," said Nicolas. "Well, you heard the bitch. I release _Inverz Gatekeeper_ in order to bring forth _Inverz Madith!_"

This latest "Inverz" monster had no guns or laser weapons embedded in its armor, but it did wield enormous scythes built into its forearms, which slashed at the ground and opened a swirling fissure. "By paying 1000 Life Points after its Advance Summon, _Inverz Madith_ is able to reach into my Graveyard und revive one fallen member of my 'Inverz' militia," he explained smugly. "So be revived, _Inverz Moth!_"

While the fact that it was Special Summoned meant _Inverz Moth's_ effect was no issue, the joining of a fifth extremely powerful monster to Nicolas' field most certainly was. Unfortunately, said field contained both the most powerful monster available as well as enough "firepower" to conceivably end the game for three of them…if it were Nicolas' turn, of course.

"Oh, and one last thing, you lovely little fuckers…" Barbara piped up with a sneer, her eyes darting all around the opposing field. "Two words to seal your deaths once and for all: _Mutual Charge._"

"Err…anyone care to explain that one?" Yoshizo asked, also glancing at the rest of his team, although with utter confusion rather than vindictiveness. "Y'know, just in case Jinbei didn't get it."

"It means trouble, kid," Himuro informed him. "During her Battle Phase this turn, it forces all Attack Position monsters to declare attacks…no matter _who_ controls them. In other words…"

"…You're fucked," Nicolas finished with a low chuckle. "Now, since you Arschlöcher have only played a single monster mit ATK comparable to mine, let's take care of that first, shall we? _Inverz Horn,_ bring an end to _Great Ushi Oni!_ Invasion Shockwave!"

"Not so fast, sonny!" exclaimed Yanagi, revealing his face-down. "Quake before the mighty spirits of the _Totem Pole!_"

Nicolas gave a loud, guttural scream of frustration as his most powerful attack bounced off the top head of the sacred pillar, shattering it but leaving two remaining. "Thought you gave that one to Yusei, grandpa," quipped a smirking Himuro.

"Could say the same thing about your _Great Ushi Oni,_ now couldn't I, sonny?" Yanagi returned, also grinning.

"I've got a spare," they both replied at the same time, and several of their teammates chuckled. This did not appear to improve Nicolas' mood.

"Enough…with…the…gay…_fuckfest!_" he bellowed. "Und enough with all this fucking _stalling!_ Just _die_ already!"

"No," said Jean, and the entire team nodded their agreement.

Nicolas hyperventilated for a few moments, staring Jean straight in the eye…before finally declaring in much lower tones, "Fine. _Fine._ Let's just get this over mit already. No more prattle…just getting rid of the trash. _Inverz Gasath,_ _Inverz Gilafer_…topple the rest of that fucking stripper pole! Invasion Claw and Invasion Cannon!"

A great lunging strike and a barrage of cannon fire took care of the other two heads of the _Totem Pole,_ though Yanagi appeared far more riled up by Nicolas' sacrilegious description of it than by the attacks themselves. The half-German did not wait for his protestations, however, before following up with, "That may be it for my monsters that can match your little spider-pig…but I can at least wipe out everything else. _Inverz Moth_ and _Inverz Madith,_ kill their twig and that gay-ass fucking unicorn. Invasion Sniper and Invasion Scythe!"

With no face-downs remaining on Team Kizuna's field, Nicolas' last two attacks made their marks perfectly, and _Thunder Unicorn_ and _Ancient Tree of Enlightenment_ both fell accordingly. Andore briefly considered kicking in _Thunder Unicorn's_ effect to Special Summon itself after being destroyed by battle, but ultimately decided against it; that was it for Nicolas' available attacking monsters, and using said effect would force him to remove _Thunder Unicorn_ from play at the end of the Battle Phase. For now, it was probably better to leave it in the Graveyard for potential revival later.

"I guess we end turn for now, asswipes," Nicolas mumbled, barely giving a glance to Barbara, who was forced to nod in agreement; she'd used up all her remaining cards to give him that last round of attacks. "You're about out of time to buy yourselves."

"Don't count us out yet, Mister-I-Think-I'm-So-Smart-But-All-I-Really-Do-Is-Swear-in-Foreign-Languages!" shouted Leo Laruto, all in one breath. "My draw!"

_The Eye of Truth_ glowed in response to this, and Leo flipped around his hand…which contained two Spell Cards. However, the shot that blasted away 1000 of his Life Points thanks to this, though it knocked him over completely, did not seem to damage his enthusiasm in any way. "Alrighty, I'm gonna start things off with _Second Chance!_" he continued, sliding the Permanent Spell into his Duel Disk with much flair. "With this, I can redo a coin toss that doesn't go my way once per turn!"

"A _gamble_ deck? You're attempting to challenge agents of the Dark King himself and you chose a _gamble_ deck? Well, I suppose it's in pleasant company with the low-level Normals, pretty little unicorns, and damage-yourself decks…" scoffed Barbara, deciding to ignore the fact that the latter had just cost her nearly half of her Life Points.

"When you see just what I'm 'gambling' on, I think you'll change your tune, lady!" Leo responded. "Go, _Time Magician!_"

While no one except Yoshizo was willing to actually do so physically, mentally every jaw present was hanging open. Of all the things either team had been expecting, _none_ had thought they were going to see _Time Magician._

As the roulette turned, no comments were heard from Barbara about how much of a relic the card was; no sneering jibes from Nicolas about how much a worthless piece of Scheiße it was for its rather potent drawback. They just watched on as the hands turned and turned and turned…stopping just barely on a skull symbol, with the warm glow of _Second Coin Toss_ causing them to start right back up again…

The second time, it landed on a castle.

[-]

Within Zora Laruto's home, upon the bed which had once held the older woman while she was pregnant with her only son, a young girl's eyes slowly fluttered open.

Ruka's first thoughts upon waking were of immense calm and serenity. The slumber Aki nee-chan had sent her off to after siphoning away – not her memories, necessarily, but rather the sheer, raw totality of their emotional impact – had been unlike anything the youngest Signer had ever before experienced, and the utter peace that had ruled her mind during that time persisted for at least a few moments after returning, completely rejuvenated, to the physical world.

…Unfortunately, her second thoughts were largely worries over the pained looks on Rua's and Doctor Schmitt's faces. And as she gradually became more and more aware of her surroundings, Ruka's blood chilled as she realized why; even distant and muffled, the sounds coming from outside the house were most certainly _not_ normal.

"W…What's going on, Rua?" she asked timorously, and both of the other figures in the room nearly jumped in shock.

"Sis, you're back!" Rua cried out, completely forgetting his pride for a moment and hugging her tight.

"Ruka-chan, I'm very glad to see you are back to full consciousness," Lewis Schmitt added, softly feeling her forehead and chest. "Did Aki-chan's…treatment…achieve the desired effect?"

"Definitely," Ruka answered with a soft smile, which shifted into a frown as the noises outside increased in intensity. "What…what happened to her? Where is Aki nee-chan?"

Neither of the others answered immediately…and in the silence, the sound of a woman screaming in mortal pain outside answered it for them.

Ruka immediately jumped up and attempted to rush out of the room, but Rua caught her by the arm before she could get far. "Ruka, you need to stay in bed!" he yelled as she struggled against his hand. "You almost died an hour ago!"

"And it sounds like Aki nee-chan could be dying _now!_" Ruka protested. "One of those voices is hers, I know it!"

"Aki-chan is…well…you _shouldn't_ see her right now," Doctor Schmitt murmured, shivering. When the streets had first begun to shake, he had briefly joined the others outside to see what was going on…and after witnessing a short glimpse of Aki Izayoi fighting that female Dark Signer, two shades of blood splattering across the pavement as they slashed and tore at each other's skin, he'd retreated back to his patient's room in a mix of concern and (he was reluctant to admit) fear. If the fight spilled over into the house, he was prepared to give his life if necessary to protect these children…but until then, this was probably one of the few relatively safe places to be in the area.

"What's happened to her?! Don't lie to me!" demanded Ruka, still attempting to extricate herself from her brother's grip.

But Lewis Schmitt did not immediately answer, and in the absence of any further words, Ruka's emotional distress peaked…and Rua yelped and removed his hand, shielding his eyes from the brilliant crimson glow erupting from the claw on her forearm.

"Oh…oh _God_…" she whispered in horror, her eyes widening with understanding as she received several rapid flashes of her fellow Signer's mind.

And with that, she threw open the door and bolted for the front of the house, Rua and Doctor Schmitt right behind her in pursuit.

"Ruka! Ruka, _wait!_" shouted Rua.

"She needs me, Rua!" she yelled back, not slowing down. "She needs _someone_ right now, or she could…!"

But the rest of her statement caught in her throat as she grasped the handle of Zora's front door and pulled it open…and simultaneously, the loudest and most terrifying scream yet overtook their ears.

Words escaped Ruka utterly to describe the scene before her. Flames, rubble, and splattered blood matted the street; behind the nearest piece of debris, Rally, Nerve, Blitz, and Taka cowered in terror, the latter cradling Zora Laruto's unconscious form; and at the center of all this stood Aki Izayoi, grinning maniacally as she drove her heel into the chest of her fallen foe…a foe who, where a head should be, had only a grotesque bloody stump…

"Victory…" she said quietly, a relish in her voice Ruka hadn't heard since the Fortune Cup, if not even more intense. "Victory…for Divine. If only he could see…if only I could prove…"

"Aki nee-chan!" exclaimed Ruka before she could stop herself. The magenta-haired woman's eyes, glazed over and with the pupils perpetually contracted to tiny dots, turned toward her younger counterpart at this, the same unsettling grin remaining as she tilted her head to the side to regard Ruka more closely.

"You…_yes!_" she breathed excitedly, stepping over the Dark Signer's bleeding corpse and rushing over to Ruka. Aki had caught hold of the young girl's shoulder and was caressing her cheek before Ruka's mind even registered that she was using her psychic powers to augment her speed and reflexes…and in that instant, Ruka realized just how thoroughly outmatched she was by the madwoman standing over her.

And it _terrified_ her.

"Divine…wanted you…" she continued, brushing a lock of green hair off of Ruka's forehead. "Yes…wanted you…for Arcadia…"

For a moment, the psychic Signer looked overcome with moroseness…but it faded quickly, replaced again with that excited gleam. "Can't…can't do that anymore…but…" uttered Aki, "…but we…can do it _for_ him! Honor his memory…fulfill his mission…resurrect Arcadia! Even in death…Master Divine…_will_ own this world! You…and I…together!"

Ruka just shook, fear paralyzing her completely. It was one thing to hear these words from a stranger or known enemy, but with that insane grin plastered upon the fact of the woman she had come to think of as something of an older sister…there was simply nothing she could think to say or do to defend herself.

"G…Get away from her!" cried Rua, the stutter in his tone making it evident that he was having something of the same issue trying to reprimand someone he so admired. Nonetheless, he grabbed at Aki's wrist, trying to force it away from Ruka's cheek…and the magenta-haired Signer immediately turned her attention to him, her eyes narrowed and wrathful.

"_Away!_" she screeched, and with that command Rua found himself flying back into Zora's front door, impacting hard against the old wood.

Rua tried to pick himself back up, but found that none of his bones or muscles were responding in more than the minutest way to his brain's edicts. Even his vocal chords were too thoroughly frozen in place for him to do more than vaguely choke out muffled sounds of alarm…and as his similarly paralyzed eyes glanced forward, he noticed that he was not the only one suffering such effects. Psychic energy crackled around Aki like lightning, and it became instantly clear that she was holding all of them firmly in place with little more than a thought, her concentration once again fully focused on Ruka's quivering face.

"Join…Master Divine's will…" she implored the younger Signer, kneeling down to stare her straight in the eye. "Unleash…your destiny…"

"A…Aki nee-chan, can't…can't you see?" Ruka stammered, trying to back away and not particularly succeeding. "That…that man…he only used you in life! Don't…don't let him to it in _death_ t…too!"

Aki just stared back incredulously at this declaration, her expression making it appear as if Ruka had just insisted that the sky was green. "How…could you refuse?" she responded, almost breathless. "Divine…Divine is our master…he is perfect…"

"_No,_ Aki nee-chan!" Ruka yelled back, this time much more forcefully. "He's a _monster!_ He always was!"

Aki's reaction to these words wasn't one that anyone had expected; she immediately grasped the sides of her head and began screaming at the top of her lungs, waves of psychic energy bursting from her mind with such great force that they left deep gouges in some of the nearby buildings. "_Shut…up!_" she screamed, and with enough force to crack bone she struck Ruka across the face.

"A…Aki nee-chan…" whispered Ruka, already feeling half-conscious from the sudden blow. "Please…don't…"

"If you…do not serve…Master Divine…" Aki said slowly, one hand wrapping tightly around Ruka's tiny throat, "…then you are…his enemy…"

And every frozen eye in the vicinity struggled valiantly to widen as she began to hyperventilate, manifested an enormous spike made solid by her powers, and concluded in low tones, "And enemies…of Master Divine…must _die_…"

The spike rose up, aimed straight for Ruka's heart, and the little girl could do little more than choke out tears as it quivered a few meters above them.

Then Aki's fist clenched…and the spike fell.

[-]

"Just in case you haven't noticed, Harald, I've got some news you might wanna hear," shouted Brave Gosforth as one of the Polar God Loki's hands was blasted off, forcing the Trickster to expend precious life-magic regenerating it. "This shit ain't going well!"

"Duly noted," Harald Ledberg replied tersely. "Now if you'd please, clear your mind and keep fighting anyway!"

Although using the Rainbow Bridge to transport their battle into the realm of the Spirit World's deceased – the Undead Wasteland – had successfully taken the possibility of harming civilians off the table, it hadn't done much of anything to turn the tide in their favor.

The King of the Underworld remained as implacable as ever, shrugging off every attack they threw at it without any apparent fatigue. Every ounce of grayish slime they managed to burn or gouge out of its massive form was replaced just as quickly, and rather than being cowed by the continuous assault from three Norse Gods, it persisted in roaring its defiance to the heavens, holding them all back with so many streams of Hellfire that even moving an inch was a gamble with death.

There was one great difference between fighting the beast over the Atlantic Ocean and fighting it over these desert sands, however – while their aerial "arena" on Earth had been almost entirely open and free of obstructions, here there were enormous mountains and other strange stone structures littering the otherwise empty landscape.

To a degree, this worked to their advantage (as their helicopter and their Gods could duck for cover as flames continued to spew from the King's massive maw) but on the other hand they also impeded their free range of movement, which was something of a problem given how wide the creature's own range was. Loki was the one worst-affected by this, as his fighting style primarily centered on zipping around the battlefield while shooting bolts of magic and laying traps, and forced into a straight out-and-out firefight the Trickster God found himself hopelessly outgunned.

Thor was not faring much better, as the God of Thunder had a general preference toward the "direct approach" to vanquishing enemies – and for that matter, so did his avatar Dragan Thorwald – but if there was one thing the King of the Underworld wasn't making easy right now, it was close-quarters combat. Valiantly the Polar God attempted to press through nonetheless, battering aside as many of the flame-spurts as he could with Mjölnir, but the efforts appeared largely futile. The only attacks Thor actually managed to land were several long streaks of lightning…which seemed to do little more than slow down the advancing juggernaut.

Odin was the only God whose strategy hadn't altered after their jump, but then that was because the All-Father didn't appear to be moving at all. At most, his holy spear Gungnir was humming and vibrating slightly, and flashes of some otherworldly power could be spotted in the cavity where his right eye should be…but there was no other indication that the greatest of the Æsir was in fact doing anything whatsoever.

…At least until a massive storm began to form around them, assailing the King of the Underworld with titanic gales and flurries of frost that would bring any being of lesser power to its knees in an instant.

But none of this appeared anywhere near enough to cow the King, which just continued to stomp around and spread its fires of death, almost looking confused at the lack of mortals around to kill. This, of course, had been the point – a walking wasteland was far less of a threat to its surroundings when its surroundings already _were_ a wasteland – but with nothing else in the vicinity to "attend" to, it was concentrating more-or-less its full attentions on the Gods trying to shoot holes in it.

Long story short, the two sides were at a stalemate…which wasn't exactly good news for Team Ragnarok.

"Anyone else…feeling a bit…under the weather?" wheezed Dragan hoarsely, his blazing Rune Eye being the only thing that allowed him and his God to strike through Odin's blizzard. "No pun…intended…"

"The Polar Gods are working off our respective life-forces, Dragan," explained Harald in strained tones. "Which, even for us…do not constitute an unlimited resource."

"Hey! Wait…a Goddamn…minute!" protested Brave as a particularly powerful gust nearly toppled him from atop their helicopter. "We're…in the Spirit World…aren't we? Shouldn't…they be…?"

"The Spirit Dimensions aren't _interchangeable,_ Brave," Harald said after a long sigh. "They're twelve entirely separate planes of existence, with their own subtly differing laws of physics and biology. The Polar Gods could manifest without our efforts just fine in the Tenth Dimension, the Realm of Light…but here in the Sixth, they depend on us just as much as on Earth."

"Sorry…I asked…" panted Brave, rolling his eyes at Harald's comparative lack of exhaustion. "So…just one question…then…"

"…What is the course of action we should next take?" Harald guessed.

"Not…how I woulda said it…" Brave responded, "…But yeah!"

"There is but one thing we can do, Brave," Harald told him mutedly. "We can pray."

"_Pray?!_" repeated Dragan, waving his arms to emphasize his utter incredulity at this suggestion. "For the love of…our Gods are right _here!_"

"Which doesn't prevent us from praying to them," Harald pointed out, his expression remaining entirely level. "The Gods of Asgard work their miracles in ways even men like us cannot fully comprehend."

Dragan looked ready to punch Harald straight in the face until he started speaking in plain Norwegian, but he was halted by a tug on the arm from Brave, who declared, "Either…of you guys…see that thing? By…its eye?"

It took a few seconds for the other two to notice what the redhead was talking about, but eventually their Rune Eyes focused in on something golden and orangish wedged directly below the King of the Underworld's left eye…just in time for the object to explode in a fantastic blaze.

"The…_fuck?!_" Dragan shouted, just as more explosions erupted along the monster's body, and it began to stumble…but somehow, it wasn't able to reassert its balance. Though they couldn't quite make out what, something large and yellowish was holding the King's "feet" in place, and the great beast roared fiercely as it fought to extricate itself.

But while they had no idea where these mysterious bits of aid were coming from, Team Ragnarok wasted no time in capitalizing on them. "_Go!_" Harald ordered, and his fellows each outstretched their arms, guiding their respective Gods with mental suggestions carried through their Rune Eyes.

With the King of the Underworld no longer spewing Hellfire for the moment, Thor shot forward like a bullet (or at least as closely to it as his massive form would allow) and began to wail on the monster with Mjölnir, obliterating enormous piles of slime with every thunderous strike of the hammer. Whoever had planted the initial charges (or whatever they were) seemed to still be operating, offering cover fire from someplace off in the distance to keep the King from rallying.

Loki, meanwhile, was flipping around the battlefield tossing larger and larger energy bolts at the creature's eyes and maw, keeping it off-guard as the others attacked it directly. The Trickster God also seemed to be gazing at the substance encasing the beast's claws with great approval – unsurprising, as the sorcerous Polar God had pioneered trap-laying to an art form – and used some of his own magicks to reinforce what Team Ragnarok now realized were grand structures of aged bone.

And Odin…Odin was now pointing Gungnir straight at the King, channeling the brunt of the storm directly into the abomination's "face" so as to hold it down, unable to counterattack as the other Gods and their unseen allies wailed upon it from every angle.

This persisted for several more moments, until a high voice from behind them called out, "_Get down!_" and Harald, seeing what was emerging over the nearest ridge, quickly ordered Sebastian in the pilot's seat to comply.

For what was now floating up over the snow-covered sands was a dragon of such immensity that it nearly matched Odin in height…and probably would have exceeded him, were its serpentine body stretched out to full length. Titanic, feathered wings beat the torrential flurry out of the way as multi-colored gemstones along its gleaming white scales lit up with the radiance of a sunburst, and then…

"_Over the_ _Rainbow!_" the voice cried, filled with such energy and conviction that it sounded almost like singing.

There was no description that would do justice to the blast that the dragon emitted at this shrill cue. Erupting from its maw with a width of at least several dozen meters, the swirling and shimmering array of rainbow-hued energy shot forward with the speed of a jet carrier, easily breaking through the sound barrier and nearly grounding their helicopter with the sheer intensity of the shockwave.

For several long moments, there was nothing any of them could see or hear _but_ the attack, and even with their Rune Eyes burning at full power Team Ragnarok was forced to squint as the energy gradually dissipated to nothing…and left nothing in its wake but the sands of the wasteland, much of it instantly crystallized into glass by the pure heat of the blast.

"Who has come to our aid?" demanded Harald as he slowly began to regain his bearings, his ears still ringing from the overwhelming sound of the attack's sonic boom. "Show yourselves!"

There was a long pause following these words as Odin's snows finally began to clear…and then, from over three separate ridges in various directions, unmistakably human figures emerged and began to sprint toward their location. "_Oi mates,_ is that how you speak to everyone who saves your lives?" asked one, pronouncing the first two words in painfully accented English. "Y'know, I haven't heard a _thank you_ yet!"

"Enough, Jim," another stated calmly, holstering his Duel Disk in a compartment in his belt – holstering being the operative term, because the thing appeared to be shaped like a large _gun._ "Given the circumstances, asking us to declare ourselves is entirely reasonable."

"Guess you've got a point there, _Sharp Shooter,_" admitted the first, tossing a cowboy hat up into the air and then catching it with a flourish.

"Don't worry, we're not armed!" said the third, a blue-haired man in a vest who was holding his hands up in assurance. "Well, you know, apart from the fifty-story-high wild dragon. But anyway, we're…"

"I know who you are," Harald interrupted him. "I suppose the presence of _Rainbow Dragon_ ought to have been a dead giveaway, but then, I've never quite seen the beast so…close. I am Harald Ledberg, disciple of the greatest of the Polar Gods: the All-Father of the Nine Realms, Odin. These are Brave and Dragan, my compatriots. Together, we constitute the legendary Team Ragnarok of Norway."

Very coolly, Harald stepped forward to shake the third man's hand and continued, "And this should be Johan Andersen, champion of Division 7 of the Pro-Leagues from 2003-2008 and owner of the one-of-a-kind 'Gem Beast' cards. Ended his professional career after the reorganization of the tournament structure by Sho and Ryo Marufuji and disappeared from public life since."

"You appear to be…exceedingly well-informed, Harald," Johan replied, cautiously returning the gesture.

"I make it my business to be," Harald told him, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Not only are you an essential tentpole of dueling history, but you possess certain…traits…which men like us need to keep track of."

Harald cast a long glance at the Rainbow Dragon as he said this, which was still floating silently in the skies above, staring at the now-regrouped Polar Gods.

"I am, however…_unfamiliar_ with your companions," added Harald. "Who are we to thank for coming to our aid this day?"

"The name's James 'Crocodile' Cook, but you can just call me Jim, _Odinson,_" offered the man in the cowboy hat, who tipped it genially. Up close, Team Ragnarok could plainly see that he was missing an eye, with copious bandaging used to cover it up…although that was positively normal compared with what appeared to be a live crocodile strapped straight across his back.

"And this little one is Shirley. Say _cheers_ to the nice Norsemen, Shirley!" he cooed, as the creature ceased being rigid for a moment, peered at Team Ragnarok rather confusedly, and then snapped its jaws once.

Both Brave and Dragan looked at Jim rather apprehensively after seeing this, but Harald didn't even blink, his gaze focused upon the last of the men. "Austin O'Brien," the dark-skinned gunslinger said tersely, his eyes mirroring Harald's in their barely concealed suspicion. "And if you don't mind, Mister Ledberg…I think it's time our teams debriefed each other."

[-]

"We are nearing the Temple of Trishula, otherworlder," whispered General Raiho, his war-fan still trained beneath Tetsu Ushio's throat. "We should only have to maintain this charade for a few moments more."

"Good," Ushio murmured back, his eyes still on the downturned face of Maihime. The young woman had been walking with their party without a word since they'd left the village square, and guilt gnawed at Ushio for not reaching over to comfort her, despite the circumstances.

Glancing back-and-forth for spirits beyond their band and finding none, Ushio opened his mouth to try and say something to the poor girl, whose crystallized tears still clung to her cheeks…but Raiho held up a hand to silence him, as a moment later, two figures teleported before them in a flurry of snow.

"High Priest Dai-sōjō…High Priestess Koreishi…noble councilors, I wish you both good day," Raiho pronounced, his grip on Ushio tightening. "I only wish that it were under better circumstances."

"And to you as well, General Raiho," returned Dai-sōjō, inclining his sedge hat slightly. "I see the rumors are true…you have captured the human responsible for the murders of Grunard and Gantara."

"_Alleged_ to be responsible, yes," Raiho corrected him. "While we may all be assured of his guilt, it has nonetheless yet to be formally decided by the Council. Though I doubt our next proceedings should last long."

"Which brings us to the reason for our meeting," said Koreishi, her voice as distant and ethereal as ever. "As you know, only councilmembers with a military background are permitted to hold the rotating title of Head of Council. Thus, until we can select worthy replacements for the departed generals…you must wield that burden indefinitely."

"And I accept it, with a heavy heart," Raiho told them, bowing as low as he could without releasing his hold on Ushio.

"Then as your first official act, my friend, I request that you open the investigation into General Gantara's death, and merge all evidence found toward the murder of General Grunard into it," Dai-sōjō added. "Pursuant to this, I would also like to ask if you found any further evidence when you captured the otherworlder."

"Request acknowledged and granted with full faith," responded Raiho. "And as for the latter part, I'm afraid not. Even the bow which fired the fatal arrow has yet to be located."

"That should not be a problem, my friend," Dai-sōjō stated, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "You see, Koreishi and her acolytes have already finished examining the arrow in question. Even Gantara's best cryomancers are nothing compared to their skills. And they have conclusively determined…"

And without further warning, the High Priest Dai-sōjō drew a talisman of razor-thin ice and threw it at the ground beneath one of Raiho's men, trapping him in a steely-blue seal, before finishing, "…that the _true_ murderer is this spirit here! By the authority of the Council, Yusobutai of L'ad, you are under arrest!"

"_What?!_" exclaimed General Raiho, immediately releasing Ushio and wheeling around with his fans drawn on the lowly caravan-rider. "Yusobutai, is this true? Answer me!"

From beneath the folds of his many robes, the spirit let a wooden bow fall into the snow, and though only his eyes were visible they blazed with pure fury. "Gantara killed my father, long ago," he informed them, his voice thick and raspy. "He was a common thief, yes…but _nothing_ justified the brutality with which that bastard cut him down. I was but a boy, then…but I swore that someday, he and the rest of you fascists would pay for your crimes against the spirits you _claim_ to protect! Down with the Council!"

"I…I had no idea," Raiho said to his fellows, looking solemn. "All this time, I've been affording a murderer the protection of my office…"

Then, he turned to Ushio, who was just beginning to pick himself up after his rather rough release, and appended, "And it seems I owe you an apology as well, human. We should not have so rashly jumped to conclusions about you, merely because you attempted to escape custody."

"We will have time to deal with the trespassing otherworlder once you have returned him to his cell, General Raiho," Dai-sōjō interjected, his eyes still locked on Yusobutai's. "For now, we need to search your coachman here. More than likely, _he_ has it."

"Has what, High Priest?" asked Raiho, one hand each now on Ushio's and Maihime's shoulders.

"After our success divining the source of the arrow, our services were requested for a second analysis of the poison that killed General Grunard," explained High Priestess Koreishi. "And one of my acolytes discovered minute traces of a second substance in his tea – secretions from the eye of a Lekunga. While harmless on its own, the substance is a potent strengthening agent…and would be sufficient to render even a drop of Granadora mucus toxic."

"So…you have it all figured out, it seems," spat Yusobutai, pressed up against the barrier of Dai-sōjō's seal like a criminal grasping the bars of his jail cell. "But if you're looking for more evidence, I'm afraid you're out of luck. I ditched the vial of Lekunga extract in the snowbanks quite a distance away. It's lost to the Numbing Grubs, now."

"Not quite," Koreishi murmured, her eyes closed and a green aura beginning to surround her. "Similar expressions of malice are represented by each tool of murder. By tracing the one, I should be able to locate the other. High Priest Dai-sōjō, please hand me his bow."

Ushio could feel Raiho's grip tightening at this request, to the point where the war-fan still in the general's hand drew a small amount of blood. Not that he blamed him; this was unquestionably one of the tensest situations he could ever recall being in, and for a cop, _that_ was saying something.

Still, the old man reached down and retrieved the bow from the caravan-rider's feet without any apparent issue, and the High Priestess began to run her hands across it, the verdant glow growing brighter and brighter.

But rather than the tranquil clarity that her earlier divination had yielded, a moment later, Koreishi's face came alight with quite a different expression.

"This…this cannot be…" she whispered, icy-blue tears welling up in her eyes. "The vial…it's…"

But the High Priestess did not say another word. Nor would she ever again…and neither would the High Priest.

Because protruding from both of their chests were long swords of ice, wielded by the samurai.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, my friends," said General Raiho as his last two fellow councilmembers collapsed into pools of their own blood. As he said this, he reached into his own pocket and pulled out a small crystal phial…and though it wasn't labeled, Ushio had a damn good idea what it must have recently contained.

"_Maihime_…we've got to move, while they're all distracted," Ushio whispered, only to glance over and see that the Dance Princess had collapsed into slumber.

And…now that he was thinking about it…he was feeling rather tired himself, all of a sudden…

"You…you _bastard_…" the Security Officer slurred, one gloved hand outstretched toward the smirking general as he drifted out of consciousness completely.

[-]

For the first time in her life, Sherry Leblanc was being slapped in the face by a man. And even more amazingly, she told herself, she wasn't immediately moving to snap the offender's neck with her bare hands.

Still, she couldn't exactly blame Tetsuzo Kuzuyama for being so frantic in trying to wake them up, given the circumstances. And in any event, as both Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikage Sagiri were being similarly roused, her mind was firmly focused on another target.

"What happened to you guys?!" yelped Tetsuzo, turning to each of them in turn. "All I saw was that scary bastard grabbing each of ya and…okay, this is gonna sound weird, but…he looked like he was _hugging_ ya to death…"

"He…said something about mind-reading," murmured Mikage, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh God…I think I _felt_ him, reaching in, ripping out what he needed…"

Immediately she was at her feet, her expression stern. "I think, somehow, he stole the location of our base of operations. He's going after Ruka," she informed them, already moving toward the door.

"Hold on," Sherry called out after her, trying to stand up by herself and failing miserably.

"Leblanc-sama, with all due respect, you don't understand. It was _my_ responsibility to make sure that child stayed safe, and now I've given a madman directions right to her doorstep!" exclaimed Mikage, shaking all over as she recalled Frank's rather vivid descriptions of his desired revenge. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave _now!_"

"No…not without me," Sherry protested as Mizoguchi helped her to her feet. "Because that's only one small part of the problem, and we _don't_ have a lot of time."

"…What do you mean?" Mikage asked after a moment's pause, her hand still on Tetsuzo's doorknob.

"I don't know what it was – maybe the intensity of my emotions at the time, or the fact that I was nearly unconscious already – but whatever caused it, when that salopard tried that damn trick on me, I received…feedback," Sherry explained. "There were…flashes…of what he's been doing. What he's been planning."

She turned to Mizoguchi for the next part, her eyes stern and narrowed, before finishing, "I was wrong. He _wasn't_ the man who ordered the murders of my parents…but he's working with the man who _did._ And right now, that man – Clark Smith – is in the process of setting off another Zero Reverse event."

Mikage stumbled against the door as the other woman spoke these words, mouthing something that her brain simply couldn't articulate. And Sherry couldn't blame her – though she could _feel_ with absolute certainty that things were as she had said, and that the flashes of information Professor Frank's chaotic mind had briefly fed into hers were accurate, the idea was so patently ludicrous that even Sherry half-wanted to throw it out wholesale. But she knew what she'd seen, and if Frank was at all representative, Jack Atlas and his minions weren't exactly in their right minds right now.

If there was one thing she'd learned over the years, it was that one couldn't possibly underestimate the potential of a deranged mind…and that went double when the wielder of that mind drew desperate.

"This 'base' that you are heading to…would Yusei Fudo be there?" Sherry demanded after a few seconds' silence.

"I…I don't know," Mikage answered truthfully, biting her lip. "None of us have seen him since he left to meet you two in Paris. But…well, if he's back in the Satellite as you say, then I can't think of another place he's more likely to be…"

"I suppose that will have to suffice, then," Sherry said with a sigh. "We're going with you. I am going to confront this 'Clark Smith' in Neo Domino City. I am going to prevent him from enacting this calamity. And when that's finished, I will cut his _fucking_ throat out with a knife and wear it on my belt. But to do that, I'm going to need the resources of Yusei and the rest of your 'Signer' friends."

"Are…are you sure, Leblanc-sama?" Mikage asked, her voice quivering with trepidation as she glanced at Sherry's unsteady posture. "We have no choice but to proceed on foot for now, and your leg is still…"

"Uh…I think I can help with that!" piped up Tetsuzo. "But where is that darn thing…"

The old man dove into a pile of junk in the corner of the room, throwing items behind him at random as he dug deeper and deeper into the hoard. Sherry had nearly been struck in the face by a diary, a heavy locket, and – for whatever reason – a silvery tiara before he emerged from the scrap with a triumphant "Aha!"

"Keys?" Mizoguchi observed, his voice mildly apprehensive. "What are they for, Kuzuyama-sama?"

"For my ol' jeep, of course!" Tetsuzo called out excitedly. "You know the one, with the mint-green paintjob and that rear axel that makes a weird sound like…err…well anyway, I haven't used it in years, but I'm pretty sure it's still full of gas!"

"Then we might be able to beat that maniac there after all!" Mikage declared, feeling some measure of hope for the first time since Frank, Bolger, and that…_other_ maniac had attacked them in the warehouse.

"I…believe that I have misjudged you, monsieur," Sherry admitted, still clutching her leg as she leaned against Mizoguchi. "I would be honored to accept this aid."

"Then let's gather the children from the shelter and proceed to your base posthaste, Sagiri-san," said Mizoguchi, accepting the keys from Tetsuzo and checking some information on his Duel Disk. "On multiple fronts, it is clear that we have no time to lose."

[-]

_(Nicolas Verbrechen: 5300 LP – Barbara Vasquez: 9200 LP)_

_(Taro Yamashita: 4000 LP – Yoshizo Hayashi: 4000 LP – Jinbei Tanigawa: 4000 LP – Jean Aramis: 1000 LP – Breo Athos: 2000 LP – Andore Porthos: 800 LP – Jin Himuro: 2000 LP – Tenzen Yanagi: 4000 LP – Leo Laruto: 3000 LP – Soichi Kazama: 1000 LP)_

"Nein…" whispered Nicolas as the time warp opened, swirling energy bathing the field as the armor upon his monsters rusted and decayed, and the creatures themselves aged until they were crumbling, hollow figures of dust.

"Nein, nein, nein, nein, _nein!_" he continued to repeat, each utterance louder and shriller than the last. "I will _not_ lose like this! I will _not_ lose to niemande like _you!_"

"Hey, goatee-face!" piped up Andore. "Whatever happened to that whole 'no more prattle' thing? Because I think you've officially started sounding like an 80s American cartoon villain."

Nicolas screamed gutturally at this jibe, his feather pulsing furiously. "Dummköpfe! Don't any of you _get_ it?!" he demanded through clenched teeth. "You are all about to _die!_ Three of you are but an inch away from it! _How_ can you be so…so…"

"Well, there _is_ the fact that you act like a petulant toddler every time you lose some Life Points," Jinbei pointed out dryly. "Kinda reduces the sense of danger."

"Yeah, face it, pal. This may be the first time any of us have met you, but I've got you pegged," added Himuro. "Back when I was in the pros, I'd meet players like you every other week. You talk a big game, present yourself as a real threat…but there's really nothing else to you, is there? Just a sad little kid throwing a temper tantrum because someone plays a card game better than he does."

"And I'll prove it!" exclaimed Leo, as Nicolas continued to silently seethe. "I play the Spell _Cuckoo Clock of Fate!_ This super-special-awesome baby allows me to flip three coins, and for each Heads I get to Special Summon a monster from my hand!"

In response to this, an enormous grandfather clock appeared on the field behind _Time Magician_ and opened up three compartments…all of which had a cartoonish cuckoo bird popping in-and-out, chirping loudly as they balanced multicolored coins on their beaks. Simultaneously the birds then flipped their beaks upward, the coins each sailing up in the air and then landing atop the clock's door handle.

One Heads…a Tails, causing _Second Coin Toss_ to kick in and change it into a second Heads…and finally…

"Booyah! Three Heads means three awesome monsters!" Leo cried out, punching the air in elation. Accordingly, the three coins formed a stack that weighed down the handle of the grandfather clock, the door slowly opening to expose the inner workings.

"Now, say hello to _Clock Knight #4, Clock Knight #8,_ and _Clock Knight #12!_" Leo continued, as three rather…unique warriors bounded out of the clock. They were, quite literally, the numbers they were named after, glowing brightly and wielding stick-figure limbs, swords, and helmets. "These guys may be a little weak now, but once per turn I can flip a coin and if it's a Heads, the Knight gets a 1200 ATK point boost! Plus, each and every one of them can redo one coin flip per turn!"

Leo scarcely needed to flip the coins at this point – with up to five flips available for each of his Knights, the odds of all the "gambles" turning out right increased dramatically, and indeed by the time Leo was entering his Battle Phase his once-puny monsters now boasted impressive power levels of 1600, 2000, and 2400 respectively.

And together with the 500 ATK offered by _Time Magician,_ that meant a total of 6500…a full 1200 points more than Nicolas' own exposed Life Points.

"Alright, guys…you know what to do," said Leo, sounding as if he was giving his own monsters a pep-talk. "Go for the gold! Attack with Clockwork Symphony!"

"…Did you forget so soon, little boy?" Barbara called out to him, the sickly green barrier reasserting itself to block _Clock Knight #12's_ blade. "_Acid Barrier!_ I can negate one of your attacks, and force a 1000 Life Point 'bonus' down your throat to boot."

"Didn't…forget…" grunted Leo as he was struck by acid along the chest. "Just…took one…for the team."

He then just chuckled as Nicolas was struck by the other two swords (and _Time Magician's_ staff), bringing him down to a startlingly low 1200. "See? Totally…worth it…" he murmured, wincing and coughing a bit.

"Don't worry, buddy…it stings, but it'll stop hurting so bad in a few minutes," assured the similarly singed Himuro. "You're a tough guy. You've got 'em on the run, after all."

"On the run? What a Witz you are," Nicolas scoffed, causing Jean to sigh and place his head in his hand. Nicolas stared at this for a few moments before demanding, "Do you have a fucking problem?"

"The same one as before. Assuming you're trying to call Jin a joke, 'Witz' isn't even _close_ to being the right term. It means an _actual_ joke, with a set-up and punchline," answered the Frenchman with a roll of his eyes. "Frankly, your insistence on pretending you know German is only mystifying at this point. Not to mention pathetic."

"You don't know _anything_ about what you're talking about!" Nicolas shouted back. "Growing up mit a family like mine…"

"Don't care," interrupted Andore. "Sorry to cut you off, but really, who the Hell cares about your – presumably – tragic and woeful backstory? No one. You keep calling us 'C-listers'…but if that's the case, what does that make _you?_"

…Nicolas didn't appear to have an answer to this, as his slowly opening-and-closing mouth evidenced. Barbara did, however.

"It makes us the garbage collectors. A dirty job…but someone's got to do it," she said confidently, before turning toward Nicolas with a scornful look. "Cabrón, if you can be broken _that_ easily…well, don't count on any ass tonight. I like my men with a little fucking backbone."

"Ouch. Shutdown from the girlfriend…harsh," Leo offered with a snicker. "Anyway, go ahead."

Nicolas did not speak as he drew his next card, but his face was contorted in quite possibly the most rage he'd felt that night.

…Slowly, however, that fury began to fade. Nicolas' face visibly relaxed, and his face was instead overtaken by a wide smirk.

"_Finally,_" he whispered. "I still had one last ace up my sleeve, Arschlöcher…und now is the time to play it. I sacrifice half my Life Points to enact the _Inverz Ceremony!_"

At these words, multiple silver pillars burst out of the ground around Nicolas' field, pulsating and vibrating like some sick, organic version of Stonehenge. Scale-covered spikes protruded from each pillar, oozing golden liquid like blood and dropping it at Nicolas' feet, who cackled madly. "This is how it works, meine Freunde," he told them all, his arms outstretched as if to bask in the atmosphere of his Spell Card. "I remove from play five of my dead 'Inverz' monsters…und in return, I get the same number of Inverz Tokens!"

On this cue, small, infant-like blobs of some silvery substance rose out of the pools of ooze, crying shrilly as they attempted to slither out of the metallic circle. They did not get far, however, before Nicolas added, "My _Ceremony_ has one last effect. If the combined ATK of my removed monsters was greater than 10,000 – und because of my _Horn, Gasath, Gilafer, Moth, _und _Madith,_ I have far more than enough – then I am allowed to add one 'Inverz' monster of my choice to my hand!"

And with that, the spiked pillars began to tremble violently, collapsing inwardly one-by-one and crushing each of the screeching Tokens in turn. The sickening splatters of the infant-like globs were bad enough…but rather than fading out as the Tokens were sacrificed, their screams seemed only to grow louder, echoing deeply across the minds of Team Kizuna and driving out all other thoughts but a fervent desire to squelch the unending wail.

…Yoshizo actually fell to his knees, his hands clasped around his ears to try and block out the sound. It didn't help.

But eventually, with one final, cacophonous crescendo, the shrieking ceased as the remains of the ceremony – metal, scales, and golden ooze in all – conglomerated into one singular figure, towering over everything else on the field as it took its terrifying form. "I release my five Tokens," narrated Nicolas, laughing throatily, "in order to Advance Summon the monster who is _finally_ going to shut you Schwachköpfe up! Permanently! Die…by the claws of _Inverz Ulysses!_"

The creature was enormous. Upon its arms, chest, and forehead were the pronounced horns of a rhinoceros beetle, the edges serrated like saws…and upon its back, its abdomen separated to reveal massive wings, beating madly and casting immense gusts of wind across the field.

A hologram that showed up a moment later demonstrated its ATK to be 0…but none of Team Kizuna, not even Stephanie or Leo, was unsavvy enough to comment on this fact. With five releases used for its summon, there _had_ to be more to this monster than initially met the eye.

These suspicions were confirmed when Nicolas proceeded to say, "My _Inverz Ulysses_ may not seem like much now, Arschlöcher…but for every _Inverz_ monster used in its Advance Summon, I can crush one card you control, _und_ give him 1000 more ATK for each one. So say Auf Wiedersehen to your _Great Ushi Oni, Time Magician, Clock Knight #12, Clock Knight #8,_ und _Beast Riser_…und don't you _dare_ comment!"

Though only one of the cards speared gorily on the monster's horns was on Jean's field, Nicolas' eyes were boring into his the entire time. "How's _that_ for trying to 'prove something,' Herr Aramis?" he spat, _Inverz Ulysses_ climbing up to 5000 ATK before him. "Und now…after so long…one of you ridiculous Wichser will fall dead at my feet. Und blondie…I left your weakest _Clock Knight_ alive for _precisely_ that reason. _Inverz Ulysses_…end this, once und for all! _Invasion Execution!_"

This was finally it…a 5000 ATK monster was bearing down upon one with 1600, without a single face-down in sight. All five horns, glowing with a golden aura of power, came down upon Leo's field, ready to impale both his last remaining monster and its master with one blow…

"Whatever happens to me…just keep on fightin'!" shouted Leo to the rest, his eyes lingering particularly long on Breo's. "He's down to 600…anyone can finish this from here! I'll be…"

"…You'll be _fine!_" interrupted a shrill voice, and all attentions snapped to the source of the outburst; the _last_ person any of them would've ever suspected to so.

"Stephanie?!" several people cried out at once, their expressions uniform in bewilderment. Kazama, however, just smiled.

"Go, _Perimeter Alert!_" she exclaimed, rather clumsily but sternly slamming the card into Kazama's Duel Disk. "This thingy says it reduces all Battle Damage this turn to 0…and 'cause your attacking monster has over 2000 more attack than Laruto-san's, it _also_ says I can play it from my hand! Uh…I am reading it right…_right?_"

"Perfectly," Soichi Kazama answered with a smirk as bright red emergency lights shined upon _Clock Knight #4._ Though the monster was still torn apart by _Inverz Ulysses'_ enormous claws, the glow seemed to somehow "absorb" the damage…and beyond coughing a bit from the resultant dust cloud, Leo appeared unscathed by the attack.

…Nicolas, on the other hand, appeared so utterly dumbfounded by this play – and more to the point, its player – to even be furious, ending his turn quietly and without looking like he was paying much attention.

"You did great there, Stephanie…now keep making me proud! _Our_ draw!" Kazama called out, Stephanie following through with the action with such gusto that she almost lost her balance. Catching her with his one workable arm, he softly flipped her hand so that Barbara could see the other side – thankfully, with nary a flash of green in sight – and then added, "First, we're playing the _Assault Gundog!_ And from our hand, we'll also Special Summon the Tuner Monster _Justice Trumpeter!_"

Stephanie hastened to complete these moves as directed, placing a hound with a gun-covered harness and a cartoonish policeman wielding an oversized trumpet onto Kazama's ill-fitting Duel Disk. "_Justice Trumpeter_ can be Special Summoned by switching one Level 4 monster we control to Defense Position," he explained, _Assault Gundog_ kneeling down and turning blue accordingly.

It didn't stay that way for long, however, as Kazama began to chant, "We'll tune our Level 4 _Assault Gundog_ with our Level 3 _Justice Trumpeter!_ The beating pulse of the revolution, show the chaos within yourself! Synchro Summon! With justice, _Dæmon Chaos King!_"

The monster that emerged from this latest Synchro Summon was both horrifying and – in Stephanie's estimation, at least – kind of beautiful. Though its beating wings were wreathed with Hellfire and its "mane" was composed of billowing smoke, there was something about the creature that was…for lack of a better term…_human._ Perhaps it was the eyes; glowing brightly crimson, yes, but in a slightly flickering way that assured her there was something of a "soul" underneath.

…Now, _why_ she was choosing this moment to pontificate about the monster's appearance rather than sending it into battle, she wasn't entirely sure. But once she had shaken herself out of her brief reverie, she glanced at the holograms and noticed a slight…issue.

"It's only got 2600 ATK!" she said to Kazama in a hurried whisper. "That's pretty good, but _his_ is almost _twice_ as powerful! And you summoned it in Attack Mode!"

"Just trust me," Kazama responded aside. "Call out the attack…it'll work out."

"Well…okay then…" she mumbled uncertainly. "Err…okay…_Dæmon Chaos King,_ attack his monster with…uh, Fiery Claw…Thingy!"

Nicolas looked about to burst into laughter once more as the _Chaos King_ rushed forward…but he nearly choked on the emerging snicker as tendrils of flame extended from the attacking monster's claws, snaking around _Inverz Ulysses_ and causing a rather noticeable shift in its ATK power…

"_Zero?!_ How…how in the _fuck_ did you…?!" Nicolas sputtered.

"When _Dæmon Chaos King_ attacks, Herr Verbrechen," Kazama informed his male opponent, smirking widely, "the ATK and DEF of all monsters on your field are switched around. And while you went through _so_ much trouble to bring out a monster with such high ATK points…"

"…He let its DEF stay at 0!" finished Stephanie excitedly. "Kazama-san, you're brilliant!"

"I can hardly agree, Miss Fanservice," hissed Barbara. "Or has your dom-half forgotten about my _Acid Barrier?_ Strong as your monster is, I'm afraid you don't have any Life Points to spare a single negated attack right now."

"Forgot? Never," Kazama replied, his grin growing even larger. "But ready to beat? Always. Stephanie, play the card on the far-left!"

"Got it!" Stephanie yelped, still growling low at Barbara's latest insult. "I activate the effect of…uh…_Pursuit Hacker!_"

Sliding the monster into "her" Graveyard, Stephanie read off, "Let's see…'During your turn, when the effect of a face-up Spell or Trap Card is activated, send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation and destroy it.' So I guess that means your _Acid Barrier_ thingy is outta the picture!"

Comprehension of the significance of this move began to dawn on each duelist's face at varying speeds, as the verdant shield surrounding Barbara's and Nicolas' fields slowly disintegrated into nothing. But no one said anything; they only looked on as _Dæmon Chaos King_ slashed through the tattered remains of the barrier and continued to shoot forward, its talons blazing brightly, until…

_Inverz Ulysses_ was cut to pieces…and Nicolas Verbrechen's Life Points dropped to 0.

The effect was instantaneous – the moment the holographic Life Point counter displayed the proof of his loss, the feather lodged within Nicolas' chest burst into a massive pillar of flame, the same unearthly purplish hue as the ring of fire that surrounded their dueling field. And as the feather dissipated into the air bit-by-bit, the plume of Hellfire grew larger and larger, enveloping every inch of Nicolas' skin…

All attempts at smugness or rage had been utterly abandoned; now the half-German was shrieking his lungs out in mortal pain, crying and pleading in a pathetic, warbling stutter that was utterly devoid of his affected accent, "H…Help! Please! B…Barbara…anyone…_help me!_"

Now the circle of flame almost seemed to be reaching out for Nicolas, who was covered head-to-toe in the crackling inferno, and all looked on in horror – or averted their eyes at the sound, like the wail of an infant put through a heavily distortive filter – as the tentacles of fire joined together and Nicolas was pulled in fully, still desperately screaming for help as tears ran down his face.

Then, as suddenly as it all had begun, it stopped…and no trace of Nicolas Verbrechen existed any longer upon the Earth.

"Good…_God…_" whispered Jean, and those nearest him nodded dully; he'd summed up the only possible reaction to such a sight.

Barbara Vasquez, however, seemed to be taking a somewhat…different appraisal of the event, as she immediately began to laugh her head off. "Oh, please…_help me, Barbara!_" she repeated mockingly, now moving over to the center of "their" field now that she was Team Kizuna's sole opponent. "What'd he think this was, an _actual_ relationship?! I honestly couldn't give less of a fuck about that little piece of shit, and now that his useless ass isn't weighing me down…!"

"Oh, give it a _rest_ already!" exclaimed Stephanie, her hands balled up into fists. "We all know you're just as freaked out as we are! None of us wanted…wanted _that_ for him! And neither did you!"

This outburst was apparently sufficient to break through whatever barriers remained in Barbara's fragile psyche, because at those last words she pulled so hard on a portion of her whip that the cord snapped in two, and with a screech of guttural fury she threw the pieces as far away from her as possible. "_That's_ not happening to me, you hear me?!" she wailed, hyperventilating as her hair fell askew, matted down against her forehead with sweat. "I'll kill every single last one of you _first!_"

"No, you won't," Kazama replied with a deep, solemn sigh. "But now that we know what happens to someone who loses a duel like this…we'll try to make the end as painless as possible for you, Barbara. I promise you that. Now, Stephanie…set the card on the far-right of our hand, and then we end our turn."

"I don't need your _pity,_ you little shit! I just need you to fucking _die!_" Barbara yelled back. "My draw!"

The brunette woman continued to pant deeply at she stared upon the card she had drawn, before tilting her head back and emitting another short burst of shrill laughter. "I…I told you…I'd kill you all first…" she said in-between shallow breaths. "And now…I'll prove it…"

And at those words, the _Bad Reaction to Shimocchi_ that had been sitting upon her field for the entirety of the duel began to churn and melt, leaving nothing but a two-dimensional hologram of the sorrowful-looking woman in the picture. But slowly, the signature grayish haze that denoted the card's effect began to surround her, and the hologram twisted and changed…until she was three-dimensional and sprawled across a Monster Card Zone, weeping in abject despair.

"By paying 1000 Life Points and sending my _Bad Reaction to Shimocchi_ to the Graveyard…" she told them, her eyes now bulging madly, "…I can call upon _Maiden of Shimocchi!_ Her ATK points…are equal…to the total Life Points _Bad Reaction_ has converted this duel!"

The _Maiden_ did not shift her size, nor even her stance, as her ATK skyrocketed to a massive 15,000…but on her face, now, was mirrored the not-entirely-sane fury of her mistress, and though she continued to shiver and clench at her shoulders for warmth she was quite easily the most terrifying-looking creature summoned by any of them thus far.

"Kill his _Chaos King!_" she screamed, all pretense of sanity rapidly dwindling. "Kill him! Kill them _all!_"

"Trap Card, open. _Search Warrant,_" he responded in that same, staid tone; he took no pleasure in this any longer, but this woman _needed_ to be stopped…and so it was his duty as a Security Officer to do so. "This negates your attack, then returns to my hand for later use."

Stephanie, for her part, did her best to mimic Kazama's stoic expression as she carried out this move, but Barbara…Barbara went absolutely _livid._ It seemed almost like she was rapidly flipping through every one of her former partner's enraged reactions, from quietly seething fury to incoherent shouting to swearing rapidly under her breath.

Then as she stood there, breathing heavily and staring at each of them in turn with eyes narrowed to slits, she lunged at Stephanie.

Nearly every member of Team Kizuna immediately moved to protect the young woman in unison but they needn't have bothered; the moment Barbara got within a meter of the dueling pair, her own feather glowed bright and she was blasted backward by some unseen force.

And as she struggled to pick herself back up again, her hair and dress even further disheveled by her impact upon the ground, a voice rang out across the dueling field…a voice low and cold, which reminded them of nothing if not the tones of a funeral director…

_You will accept your loss with dignity and honor, Barbara Vasquez. If you and Nicolas Verbrechen were weak enough to fall before these fools, then do not embarrass your Dark King further by refusing to accept your own defeat._

"Y…Yes, Reaper…" she whispered to the heavens, sounding more fearful than any of them had ever heard her. She actually knelt in supplication for a few moments before adding in hoarse tones, "…Go. Just go."

Taro nodded silently to Kazama, then drew a card and stared at it plaintively for a few seconds. "Despite everything you did or tried to do, Vasquez-san…I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is nothing personal," he murmured to her. "All that really matters is…"

"Oh, just shut the fuck _up!_" Barbara cried exasperatedly, her voice still low and tired. "Shut the fuck up and…and get it over with, already!"

At this her _Eye of Truth_ pulsed, and though she'd clearly forgotten about it she leapt upon the stimulus with all of her remaining energy. "Even if it won't damage you…you still have to show me your hand! What did you draw?!" she demanded. "Tell me! _Tell me!_"

"Oh, you'll find out," said Taro, taking another deep breath. He really didn't want to end it like this, given the realism of the violence in this duel thus far…but, perhaps, it was more merciful this way. "I'm…I'm about to summon it."

Taro flipped his hand briefly, and a single card of green earned him a 1000 Life Point boost. Not that that really mattered anymore.

"You may notice, Vasquez-san, that this format has been somewhat…unique," Taro told her, his fingers clenched around the card that he had just drawn. The moment of truth was fast approaching. "And one of the most…well, _unique_ aspects is that there've been a lot more turns than usual in the first round…"

"And? Just spit it out, you fucking little _bastardo!_" Barbara interjected again, tears actually beginning to form in her eyes – which continued darting to each of them in turn, but increasingly to the fires surrounding the dueling field.

Yoshizo's, Jinbei's, and Andore's faces, however, were already lighting up with stunned awe as they realized what Taro was getting at. And with that…it was time.

"My _Key Mace_ has survived upon the field for ten of our turns," he explained, as the sprite spread its arms wide and closed its eyes – almost as if it understood _exactly_ what Taro was about to use it for, and wanted to demonstrate its acceptance of the grave sacrifice. "And as such…I release it. For now is the moment that all duelists – dark and light, rich and poor, famous or just a handful of nobodies – are seen as one before the coming of a Lord. Witness the might of the Common Man's God. I herald the summoning of the _Sleeping Giant…Zushin._"

The ground before them split in two.

The first sign of the creature was a massive, green hand emerging from the fissure, slamming against the dueling field with an impact strong enough to shake the earth and shatter the glass in nearby buildings. Then came another hand, and a head, and a body…and within a few more silent, awe-inspiring moments, the _Sleeping Giant_ was revealed to the world for the first time in the history of Duel Monsters.

Clothed in tribal garments and holding a shamanistic staff to the heavens, _Zushin_ would have towered over even Nicolas' largest Inverz monsters. "I also equip my God with _Junk Attack,_ allowing it to inflict damage equal to half a monster's ATK when _Zushin_ destroys it in battle," Taro added, the Spell eliciting raised eyebrows from Yanagi and Himuro given their knowledge of Yusei's signature cards. But then, they supposed Taro was trying to prove a very – for lack of a better term – "Yusei-ish" point here, so the card wasn't entirely out-of-place.

"You…you expect to take me out with _that?_" jibed Barbara, though it was fairly evident from her tone that she was rather unnerved. "Just because it's got a big dick doesn't change the fact that it has 0 ATK…and unlike with my _Maiden,_ I don't see that number rising!"

"So many people dismiss _Zushin_ because of its summoning requirements that they don't even bother _reading_ its effect," Jinbei cut in with a sigh. "It seems you're one of them."

"You're right that the big guy doesn't have any ATK most of the time," said Yoshizo, his expression rather somber by his standards. "But when he battles another monster, the _Sleeping Giant's_ ATK power becomes equal to that monster's…plus 1000."

Those who were quick with the math in their heads quickly found their eyes widened and their mouths hanging open…and a moment later, Barbara was one of them. "This is the end," Jean declared firmly, casting nods of respect to Taro, Yoshizo, and Jinbei.

There was a few moments' pause as each of the other members of Team Kizuna repeated the gesture, and then, "…Do it."

Taro entered his Battle Phase, and with its enormous hand sheathed in the flames of _Junk Attack,_ the 16,000 ATK _Zushin_ slowly brought its fist down onto the _Maiden of Shimocchi…_

There was a horrifying scream and a large cloud of smoke…and when it cleared, the brunette woman was being pulled into the Hellfire surrounding them as well, weeping and sobbing all the while…

And within a few more seconds, Barbara Vasquez was gone.

[-]

Ruka couldn't move; could barely even breathe, even though every fiber of her being was _screaming_ at her to leap to her feet and run as fast as possible. But all she could summon the strength to do was gaze at Rua's frozen form, his eyes wide with fear…and hope and pray that there was still some part of Aki's mind that was cognizant of exactly what she was now doing…

But if there was, it wasn't strong enough to prevent Aki Izayoi from screeching gutturally and using her powers to hurtle an enormous spike of psychic energy at Ruka's heart.

Ruka wept, loudly and hoarsely, both in pain and in despair over whatever had happened to her friend…and then the tears ceased, as the spike pierced straight through flesh.

The youngest Signer lay there, still and silent, as she attempted to get a grip on her new state of being. Death by impalement, it seemed, hadn't hurt nearly as badly as she had expected…in fact, she hadn't even felt the spike at all.

The curiosity of this observation nagged at Ruka for several more moments before she realized that she could still hear the wind rushing through her ears…and more to the point, she could _breathe_ it.

Her eyes snapped open.

And standing above her, the psychic energy spike wedged through his left arm, was Yusei Fudo.

"Y…Yusei!" Ruka cried out. "_How_ did you…?"

"I just got here. I'll explain more later," he tossed off quickly, before taking hold of Aki's shoulders, blood still pouring furiously from the wound he had taken in Ruka's place.

"Aki…" he whispered to her. "Aki, I don't know how…how _he_…did this, and now of all times…"

Then his tone shifted, becoming much more stern and forceful. "But whatever it is, you need to _wake up,_" he said with a scowl. "You're stronger than this, Aki. Show it to me. Show me your strength."

Slowly, the spike began to dissipate, and though this dramatically increased the blood-flow Yusei paid it no heed as he reached forward and pulled the young psychic into a tight embrace. Aki, for her part, did not even try to resist him, so immensely stunned by his sudden appearance that her expression had returned to being utterly blank and unfocused.

But gradually, as Yusei tightened his hold and softly stroked her bloodied, tangled mess of hair, Ruka watched in shock as her lips began to quiver slightly…her eyes blinked rapidly, starting to lose that distant, glazed luster…and then, finally, tears began welling up and then streaming down her face, full-volume and unbidden…

Then, with an enormous, choking sob, Aki pushed Yusei off of her and tore off in the opposite direction, psychic energy continuing to crackle in her wake.

"Aki! Aki-chan, wait!" called out Setsuko Izayoi as she and her husband emerged from their hiding place nearby.

"You two need to stay here," Yusei ordered them, already turning to pursue the fleeing woman. "I was hoping I'd never have to see Aki like…like _this_ again. But, whatever caused it…I don't know why, but I'm the only person she ever seems to respond to…urgh, okay, I _do_ know why, but that isn't important right now…"

"Yusei-kun, your _arm!_" exclaimed Hideo Izayoi, catching the Signer leader by his jacket before he could leave. Though Yusei wasn't making any indication that he was in pain beyond a tight grimace, it was impossible to hide the gaping wound completely, from which blood continued to drip at a steady pace even as his other palm tried to plug the flow. "You try and run after Aki now and you'll collapse from blood loss! And who the Hell is that helping then?!"

Before Yusei could protest, however, Ruka had gotten to her feet and laid her forearm against Yusei's, both of their birthmarks briefly glowing bright and generating waves of crimson energy. "Yusei…I saw it in her eyes," Ruka said softly, as the wound slowly began to shrink in size and depth. "She was in a trance, or something, before…but you snapped her out of it! Please…_please_ make sure she knows I don't blame her for this!"

"I will, Ruka," Yusei assured her. As he waited for his injury to heal sufficiently enough for sprinting, he began to truly take in the scene around him for the first time since he'd come bounding in; after their "questioning" of Dojima and his friends had led them to this address, there hadn't been time to notice anything but a deranged Aki aiming a lethal blow at her fellow Signer before action had to be taken.

The entire street had clearly felt the wear of battle; while nothing in the Satellite was exactly _pristine,_ Zora certainly lived in one of the least run-down portions of the island, and right now the surrounding buildings far more resembled those in the B.A.D. Thankfully the fires that had been flaring at the height of Aki's powers were starting to die out in the strong, cold winds, and the structural damage to Zora's own home had been relatively minimal…but it still made for a gruesome sight.

…Not the least part of which was the beheaded corpse laying sprawled across the road, a puddle of deep purple surrounding her.

Yusei swallowed hard and averted his gaze to the rest of his friends, who all seemed to just be emerging from some sort of paralysis and who were – though fairly shaken – hugging or clapping Yusei on the back for his heroic act. The Signer leader barely heard them, however…because all he could think about at the moment, besides tearing after Aki the second Ruka's healing was complete, was how Jack was going to take this news…

"I…I think it's done, Yusei," Ruka stated tepidly, breaking him out of that brief but potentially horrific chain of thought.

Yusei flexed his arm and fingers to be sure, then nodded in satisfaction at the results and told his gathered friends and allies, "Everyone, go back inside here. Ruka, Rua, I want you to debrief the Izayois, and vice-versa. We don't have a lot of time, and there's a lot of information that needs to be shared."

"You can count on us, Yusei-kun," Setsuko Izayoi replied with a small, solemn smile. "Now, please…go get our daughter."

"Thank you," responded Yusei as the rest of the gathered parties nodded in agreement. Then he tore off at full speed.

It occurred to Yusei, several moments into his run, that he probably could've saved time by fishing his D-Wheel out of Team Kizuna's helicopter back where the Izayois had stashed it. But evidently he'd expended the full extent of his patience and clear-headedness instructing the others back at Zora's house, because he buried and ignored this perfectly reasonable thought, instead darting in-and-out of the nearby streets on-foot and searching for Aki in increasing desperation.

Fortunately however, despite his delayed departure Aki evidently hadn't gotten far; it took only about five minutes of relentless sprinting for him to catch a glimpse of her torn and blood-soaked dress, fluttering in the wind. _Unfortunately,_ this was because she was suspended several meters off the ground, some kind of psychic bubble alive with thunderous energy surrounding her.

"Aki!" he yelled, attempting to run up to her; before he could close the distance, however, the energy field struck him with a painful bolt, and he was forced back. "Aki…what _is_ that?!"

"Keep away, Yusei!" she shouted back, and he gasped slightly as he saw the hate etched in every line of her face. "None of this concerns you!"

The wind around them began to pick up speed, swirling around in a chaotic maelstrom as the psychic energy increased in intensity. "You're my _friend,_ Aki!" he protested, cupping his hands over his mouth to shout over the noise. "Of course this concerns me!"

"Did you _see_ what I did there, Yusei?!" she cried back, tears flying from her eyes. "I…I almost _killed_ a child! Just because someone happened to say the wrong three words to me!"

And with that, Yusei realized that the look of pure loathing upon her visage was not directed outward. Not this time.

"Aki, that wasn't your fault!" exclaimed Yusei, trying to reach for her…but try as he might, it seemed that the barrier was blocking his hand from approaching too close.

"That's a _lie!_" Aki screamed, and the energy pulsed with even greater power. But though it was now starting to significantly wear at his muscles to do so, Yusei stood his ground. "I've spent long enough trying to run from responsibility! Misty-san was right about me, and I _murdered_ her for it! Carly-san was right about me, and I did it _again!_ I'm a monster, Yusei…and I _can't_ be allowed to kill another soul again! I pay for my crimes _now!_"

The crackling energy looked to be reaching a fever pitch, to the point where Aki was actually _glowing_ with soft red light – it was by far the most powerful Yusei had ever seen (or more to the point, _felt_) his fellow Signer. "What are you doing?!" he demanded, still trying to reach for her hand. "Please, tell me!"

"This…this is the most potent technique Divine ever taught me," she said, suddenly shifting into a low, sorrowful whisper, though the energy continued to build. "A psychic that dies suddenly can cause massive damage to everything – _everyone_ – around them through backlash. I'm using my powers to slowly shut down my brain, piece-by-piece. I'll die peacefully…and then this mark will go on to someone worthy of it."

Then she turned to him – she had been saying and screaming all of this while avoiding directly addressing his face – and her eyes shone bright with teardrops, taking in his own eyes with the mutual, unspoken understanding that she wanted them to be her last living sight. "I'm sorry, Yusei," she murmured, her voice badly shaking. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this…you, of all people. But…but if…"

She seemed to teeter on the edge of saying something else, breathing hard as Yusei yelled out her name at the top of his lungs, pounding on the bubble that separated the two – but ultimately, she merely finished, "…Goodbye, Yusei. Thank you…for being my friend."

Then she closed her eyes, and the red glow concentrated around her skull, and her breathing began to slow…

And then, without warning, her right arm jerked against the inside of the bubble, the Rear Claw of the Akaki Ryu burning bright and drawing the similarly blazing Head mark toward it…

The two birthmarks met, and the barrier broke, and Aki Izayoi started to slowly descend…

And, without thinking, without considering anything other than that he _needed_ to keep her from making this horrible mistake, Yusei Fudo caught her by the back and neck, and cradled her close…

And he kissed her.

It wasn't long, and it wasn't intensely passionate – closed lips against closed lips for no more than a couple seconds, and then he was laying her across the ground, brushing her hair out of her face and carefully clearing it of blood and tears. But nevertheless, the act seemed to have achieved quite a dramatic effect, as her breathing was starting to return to normal, and the psychic energy surrounding them was dissipating into the air.

Then Aki's eyes began to blink open, ultimately settling into a half-lidded position as her mouth opened slightly. "Yusei…" she whispered, sounding exhausted. "Why…why did you…?"

Yusei opened his own mouth, then closed it again just as quickly. This was a defining moment, and more than anything else he knew he needed to give her an answer that wouldn't spur her to finish the gut-wrenching deed she had just attempted.

He'd heard Jack, back in the ruins of the Arcadia Movement. And he'd had quite a while to grapple with the revelations the Dark King had delivered to him over the past couple hours – particularly during the flight back into Satellite, Aki's parents on either side of him. He hadn't broached the subject with them, of course…but it had certainly cast a cloud over his terse interactions with the couple on the way. Going purely off of facial expressions, he felt fairly sure Setsuko harbored suspicions that he was keeping something regarding Aki from them, but she hadn't said anything.

The point was, though…he knew what she wanted to hear. What she had probably been wanting to hear, and daring herself _not_ to want to hear, for weeks if not months now. And if hearing those words would prevent her from trying to take her own life again…wasn't that all that really mattered?

…Even if they were a lie?

"Yusei…?" she asked again, for he'd been quiet for several moments now.

He made his decision.

"Aki…" he began, taking a deep breath before going further. "Aki, there're a lot of things I could say to you now. I'm struggling on deciding which I should start with, or whether there are a couple things I shouldn't even say at all…but I know one thing. I won't lie to you. I can't."

She looked at him quizzically, and he swallowed under her gaze. Even half-open, those were powerful eyes. That made this all the harder.

"Aki, what I just did there…I want it taken exactly as it was intended. No more, no less…at least for now," he said. "I wanted…I _needed_… to show you just how much you matter to me, as a person. To all of us, but to me in particular. I haven't been making that very clear recently, and I apologize for that."

Yusei took another long breath. "Aki, I don't think of you as a monster," he told her, his voice low and soothing. "Neither does Crow. Neither does Rua. Neither does Ruka…and she asked me to make _sure_ you knew that. She doesn't blame you for what happened back there; none of us do."

"But…but…" she choked out – tears were welling up in her eyes again, but they had yet to leave her red and puffy eyelids.

Yusei held up a hand to stop her; he _needed_ to get this out now, or he wasn't sure he was ever going to gather the courage to do so again. "I know how you…_feel_…about me," he revealed to her, and some of those tears began to stream out as her eyes suddenly, momentarily widened. "It's something I've been having a _lot_ of trouble coming to terms with in the past few hours. But it's not fair of me to just keep running from it…so here goes. The big question: do I feel the same way?"

This time he held his breath for several seconds, trying to figure out the best way to put this. "Well…I don't know," he stated finally. "That's the God-honest truth: I just don't know. I know I like you a lot as a person. I know you're smart, and courageous, and talented. I know you have a strong sense of honor and justice, even if you sometimes seem to bury it. I…I know you're beautiful – both your body and your soul. And I know I couldn't stand not having you in my life."

Aki didn't say anything to this, but with visible effort she reached up with her right hand and linked her fingers around his, squeezing firmly. He took it as a good sign. "Here's the thing, Aki," continued Yusei. "Love…you know, not friendship or family bonds but real, romantic _love_…it's something I don't get. At all. I mean, I've appreciated it, and I've admired it…but I don't understand it very well at all. It hasn't been a part of my life in any way…until you came along."

He squeezed her hand back, and she smiled slightly; he returned the gesture in full, before finishing, "Could this lead to something…well, real? Maybe. I don't know. But I do know this, Aki: I want us both to stick around to find out."

Still, she did not speak…but with those words, Aki Izayoi wiped her eyes and suddenly sat up, wrapping her arms around Yusei's waist and burying her face against his shoulder and neck. Though he was positioned a little awkwardly, Yusei embraced her in return, placing strong, comforting hands along her back and allowing her to let years' worth of emotional turmoil into his ripped-up jacket.

And there they stayed, the only sound in the air being Aki's gentle sobs and the occasional rush of wind.

[-]

Tetsu Ushio thought he might have been dreaming something…which was strange, since he couldn't recall a single prior instance where he hadn't remembered his dreams with perfect clarity. But as he slowly stuttered awake from his involuntary doze, all he could see or hear were flashes and echoes.

_Mosaic Illusion!_

_Beat Festival!_

_Mind on Air!_

_Experience of Death!_

_Mind Crush!_

_Greed…Illusion of Avarice!_

So much screaming…God, so much damn _screaming…_

"…Finally awake, my dear otherworlder?" asked a smooth, simpering voice, and Ushio put the echoes out of his mind for the moment as he glared at the speaker with utter contempt.

"Raiho…what the _fuck_ is going on here?" Ushio yelled back, trying to stand up and grab the spirit; it became clear rather quickly, however, that his hands and ankles had been restrained with heavy ropes. Looking upward, he also saw that the samurai had drawn his sword of ice against the back of his neck.

"This was all supposed to be so simple…" Raiho lamented, frowning. "Dai-sōjō and Koreishi would have been no threat on their own. Only my fellow generals stood in the way of my ascendance. I am truly sorry the others forced my hand on the matter."

"Sorry they 'forced your_ hand'_?!" Ushio bellowed, struggling against the cord. "You _murdered_ them! While their backs were turned!"

"You might want to reassess your facts, Tetsu Ushio," countered the general. "I never laid a hand on a single one of my colleagues. Their deaths were the handiwork of a few treasonous rebels."

"Treasonous rebels in _your_ employ!" the Security Officer shouted back. "You may not have struck the blows, but you masterminded all of this! You even had one of your men ready to take the fall for you!"

He glared at Yusobutai as he said this, the coachman's thick robes billowing in the cold wind as he flanked General Raiho's right side, before demanding, "Where'd you get so many stooges willing to lay down their lives for your own selfish ambitions, anyway?"

Raiho stared at him ponderously for a few moments in response to this question, before breaking into a soft chuckle. "Oh, you're actually _serious_ about that accusation," he said with a small grin. "Otherworlder, do you honestly believe this has anything to do with petty spoils? My own self-interest in fame or riches or women? I play on a far grander stage."

"Meaning…?" Ushio asked tersely.

"For more moons than any living spirit can count, the Ice Boundary has maintained a pact of neutrality with the other dimensions," Raiho explained. "A wall, cutting us off from any who might mean our people harm…but also from any who might benefit us. My fondness for you was not a fabrication, Tetsu Ushio. I truly do admire your race's tenacity and drive…and I firmly believe our own, calcified order could learn a thing or two from it."

He then leaned down before Ushio, slowly waving his war fan between them, and added, "It's not too late, you know. We could still bring down that wall…together."

"Like Hell we will!" spat Ushio, his eyes wide with rage. "Give me one good reason I should believe a word you say."

"I'll give you two, actually," General Raiho replied. "One is the original term of our agreement. I keep my word, otherworlder…my cryomancers can still take you to the Temple of Trishula, and locate your friend. And as for the other reason…"

He signaled to a couple of his mages, who stepped aside to reveal Maihime…still sleeping, and frozen in a block of bluish crystal. Ushio cried out her name and tried to make his way over to her, but it did little good.

"Now, here is how things are going to proceed henceforth," declared Raiho, his words now less like conversation and more like orders. "We shall continue to the Temple of Trishula, and we shall find and retrieve your human friend. My best cryomancers will use the ambient magicks there to tear open a pathway back to your world, and enable the both of you to return home."

All of this was said with at least a smile, but it disappeared completely with his next words. "After that, with the heaviest of possible hearts…" he continued, "I will return to L'ad to report the deaths of all my fellow councilmembers, and the cowardly escape of the human responsible. The resultant outcry will galvanize the populace into calling for an end to our outmoded strictures of isolation…in favor of the lust for battle that brings _true_ progress. And in answer to that call, I will move to dissolve the Council permanently. I will bring a great cry of war to the worlds of infinity, such as has never been heard before! I will bring the tribes of the Ice Boundary to the victory they deserve! The victory _I_ deserve!"

Raiho paused for a moment to catch his breath, his eyes wide with zeal…though after he observed Ushio's reaction, a wave of regret for his momentary loss of composure seemed to flash across his face, and his small, solemn smile from earlier returned.

Kneeling down to stare Ushio in the eyes, he then said, "Please don't misunderstand, Tetsu Ushio. I only want what's best for my people. You are new here; you have not seen their pain, and their despair. Shortages of basic goods are common; what remains of an educational system is frail and failing; each moon, scores of good spirits are lost to the beasts that lurk outside our villages. We have reached the limit of what we can achieve purely on our own."

"So you'll make up for that by slaughtering others?" Ushio pressed on. "If you truly cared for your 'people,' you'd lead them somewhere _other_ than some pointless fucking war!"

"Once again, I'm afraid you flaunt your naïveté," responded Raiho with a shake of the head. "While it may be hard for you of the First Dimension to conceive, war is the very essence of interaction between the Spirit Worlds. Since time immemorial, the demons of the Dark World and the angels of the Realm of Light have waged fierce battle, with various third factions entering and exiting the fray at different times. If we abdicate our neutrality, we choose a side and take up our arms for their cause. There is no other option."

"So which one did _you_ pick?" Ushio couldn't help but ask.

General Raiho sighed. "Suffice to say, I've been…approached," he told the Security Officer, though he did not elaborate. "But that's beside the point. Can you not even _attempt_ to understand our plight, otherworlder? This is the first chance we've had in countless ages to make more of ourselves as a culture…to halt our steady slide into death by stagnation. It's what I've always dreamed of – what _we've_ always dreamed of. That's why these spirits have joined me, knowing full well the consequences of the salvation I offer."

He gestured solemnly to the rest of his hand, their weapons all held aloft, before finishing, "I do not claim to be a hero, Tetsu Ushio. Only a leader…and a visionary. These brave monsters share in my vision. Say you will as well."

There was a long pause at this, before Ushio's eyes narrowed and he growled, "Nice speech. Just one question, though."

"You wish to know what I intend for _your_ world, I presume?" guessed Raiho, his tones growing again warm and reassuring. "It is an understandable concern. I am, after all, asking for you to become a fugitive for the sake of my own crimes – as necessary as they were – and please do not think that I _ever_ forget the gravity of such a request. But do not worry, otherworlder. No side in this great war has ever struck directly against the First Dimension, and you have my sworn oath that I will not violate that tradition. It would be a foolish gambit in any event, with as little as we know about your world. Those…_cards_ you provided the Council should be sufficient proof of this to any detractors."

"Good to know," said Ushio with a scowl; reminding him of the humiliating forfeiture of his deck certainly wasn't comforting him. "But that wasn't what I was going to ask."

Then he turned his head toward Maihime, frozen in peaceful slumber, and demanded, "What about her? What are you going to do to Maihime? And why the Hell did you even get her _involved_ in all this shit?!"

"Maihime came to my cause of her own free will, Tetsu Ushio," Raiho answered promptly, walking over to the princess in question and laying a hand across her ice-covered cheek. "Do not ever doubt that I treasure that…that I treasure _her._ My affection for her is genuine, and it always has been. What happened today was…unfortunate. It certainly wasn't my first choice for dealing with Grunard, but for the sake of my people I _needed_ to seize the opportunity presented to me. But I'll make it up to her; I promise that."

"I find it hard to believe you can 'make up' for tricking her into killing her own _father!_" Ushio snapped.

"Which is why I believe it best she never learn the full details of that…little piece of subterfuge," stated Raiho with a thin frown. "You're right in that nothing I can do now could possibly make up for his death. But I can help her move on. Tomorrow we will embark on a great endeavor, the likes of which the Ice Boundary has never seen…and I want her by my side, if she will have me. In intelligence, courage, and heritage, she is the ideal partner. And who knows? In time, perhaps she can aid me in building a dynasty; _someone_ must carry on stewardship to the utopia I will build, after all…"

General Raiho left that sentence hanging as he returned his gaze to Ushio, his eyes stern and determined. "So it comes down to this, then," he said. "Are all your questions satisfied, otherworlder? Because if so, I would like your answer. Will you stand with my glorious vision? For that small but potent price, I promise you the chance to rescue your friend, and a guarantee of safe passage for the both of you back home. You will never again have to spare even a single thought to this dimension, Tetsu Ushio. Say the word, and by sunrise, all this foolishness shall be behind you. Say the word, and all will be well."

Locking eyes with the general for several long, silent moments, Ushio finally opened up his mouth and let out a long breath, and Raiho leaned forward expectantly.

…At which point, the Security Officer spat in his face.

"You…you _dare_…!" Raiho cried out, but Ushio cut across him with an incensed snarl.

"Look, I don't know how often anybody has ever bothered to tell you this, but here goes: _fuck_ you," he bellowed. "You think I can just abandon these people to you? Do you honestly believe I can be bought off _that_ easily?!"

"You don't owe 'those people' _anything!_" Raiho protested, his façade of genteelness rapidly fading. "They persecuted, imprisoned, and attacked you simply for existing!"

"And you think that means I'd feel no guilt leaving them in _your_ hands?!" shouted Ushio, struggling against his bonds with renewed vigor. "You, who apparently believe the solution to their problems is pointless war and bloodshed? Well fuck _you!_ No matter what dimension I'm in, I'm a cop first. And that means I swore an oath to stop shit-flavored scum like you, whatever the cost!"

Raiho did not respond to these exclamations for a very long time, not even blinking as he locked eyes with the enraged Security Officer. "…This is your final decision?" he asked eventually, his voice low and cold.

"Damn straight it is," Ushio shot back.

"Pity," whispered General Raiho, and at the snap of his fingers one of his subordinates brought over an ornate crystal knife. "I would have preferred that we work this out peacefully…but as with Dai-sōjō and Koreishi, you've rendered that impossible. Nonetheless, please know that I take no pleasure in this."

Pulling Ushio up by his collar, the samurai's sword still trained against his neck to restrict his movement, Raiho aimed the dagger directly at his chest and appended with a sigh, "Quite a shame…your continued existence out in the wilderness of the other dimensions would have provided a great rallying tool. Fear motivates spirits far more than love, after all. But I suppose heroically hauling in the your corpse will have to suffice. Goodbye, Tetsu Ushio."

The blade struck forth, and Ushio took what he assumed to be his final breath…and in that instant, though none of them knew it, back on Earth both Yusei Fudo's and Aki Izayoi's Signer marks were bursting to life, eroding the barriers that bound them from each other.

The tail of the Akaki Ryu seemed to choose that moment to do precisely the same.

Raiho and his men all involuntarily drew back from the blinding red light, which burned away both the dagger and the bindings restraining Ushio's movements. But it seemed the Crimson Dragon's intervention did not end there, for a second later he felt something burn hot against his chest. Extracting the object in question from his jacket pocket, he saw that Yusei's _Stardust Dragon_ was glowing bright against the card background, and he could almost swear he heard an echo of the Signer leader himself shouting, "Shooting Sonic!"

Whether the cry had been real or imagined, however, the effect that followed it proved quite clear. The dragon's signature burst of sonic energy erupted from the card and struck the block of ice imprisoning Maihime, vibrating it so dramatically that it splintered straight in two…and a shivering but very much alive Dance Princess emerged from it.

Still, even for a being adept to frigid environments, being frozen alive was hardly an experience to just walk away from unscathed, and as such Maihime took only three steps before she collapsed to her knees. Raiho and Ushio simultaneously called out her name, though it was the latter who rushed forward and caught her head.

"Maihime…you gonna be okay?" he asked, and she nodded weakly.

"Maihime, my dear…so glad to see that you're alright," General Raiho chimed in, staring at the both of them impassively. "My sincerest apologies for having to temporarily put you on ice like that, but you see…"

"S…Save it…" she whispered, her voice barely audible but nonetheless undeniably furious. "I…could hear…_everything_…"

"I see," said Raiho, his eyes narrowing. "And out of curiosity, what was it _exactly_ that you believe you heard?"

"Enough…to know…that you're a…a…" she began, icy tears beginning to flow. "A…murdering…_bastard_…_!_"

"In that case, I'm afraid I must reiterate my earlier point: such a pity," Raiho replied, walking over to his samurai armored-minion and relieving him of his sword. "Quite a shame I could not dissuade you when you insisted on facing your father's killer alone…but none will blame you. You were mad with grief, after all. Still, while I deeply regret not arriving in time to save the beloved Dance Princess, at least solace can be found in me putting down the beast who slaughtered her. Cryomancers, hold them."

The General's robed mages nodded in affirmation and did as he bid, waving hands coated with an ethereal blue energy over the pair and instantaneously paralyzing their limbs. Raiho wasted no time in capitalizing on this, and again raised a blade over Ushio's heart. There was a split-second's pause…and then the sword plunged straight through, leaving a long splatter of blood upon the snow.

But it wasn't Ushio who felt the blade's deathly sting. Perhaps her years of study had given her some level of immunity to cryokinesis; perhaps the sorcerer who had cast upon her was simply not as competent as the others. But none of that really mattered. What mattered was that Maihime had regained her freedom of movement at the last moment…and had used it to shove Tetsu Ushio out of the way.

"_Maihime!_" he screamed as her impaled body slumped down across the snowbanks, her bloodstained chest heaving unevenly.

"That was…not what I was intending," said Raiho, though compared to the Security Officer he seemed to be largely keeping his composure. "I suppose it had to be done eventually, but in her case I would've preferred something less…messy…"

"Go _fuck_ yourself!" snapped Ushio, simultaneously wanting to administer first aid to the spirit who had just saved his life – even though the size and depth of the wound made it visibly clear that doing so would be pointless – and to strangle her killer with his bare hands. Unfortunately, the mages' spell prevented him from doing either.

"D…Don't worry…Ushio…" Maihime mumbled, her voice obscured by a wet, gargling sound as blood poured from her mouth. "He's…he's coming…"

"What?" Ushio asked, struggling with all his might against the cold paralysis. "Who's coming?"

"I…I lied, earlier…" she went on, her words growing weaker by the second. "When you…asked…why I…was…out where I…I found you…"

She coughed up another spurt of blood, this one containing some amount of bile. "Wasn't…training…" Maihime continued to murmur. "C…Communing with…a spirit…"

Then her head slumped down, and her eyes slowly glazed over as she choked out her final words, "Spirit…of…_Judgment_…"

And then she spoke no more.

"…Any of you have any idea what she was talking about there?" Raiho demanded after a few moments, his expression unreadable. When no one responded, he shook his head and pulled the sword out of Maihime's chest, freeing it to spew blood all across her already-mangled corpse. Then he aimed it at Ushio one last time.

"No more kind favors of fate, otherworlder," he declared. "No more to die for your sake. No more offers for you to so foolishly spit upon. This debacle ends, _now!_"

Nᴏ. Yᴏᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ sᴘɪʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴛ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪs ɴɪɢʜᴛ.

"W…What in Trishula's name…?" Raiho questioned of no one in particular, looking around wildly to try and find the source of the utterance. But such information was not readily available, for the voice – booming, commanding, and utterly terrifying – had seemed for all the world to have been generated by Ushio's own heart. He guessed Raiho was experiencing much the same feeling, and it was clearly unnerving him.

"Declare yourself!" he shouted, pointing the bloodstained sword at each of his companions in turn as well as to nothing at all. "Who is this?"

I ᴀᴍ ᴀs sʜᴇ sᴀɪᴅ. A sᴘɪʀɪᴛ ᴏғ Jᴜᴅɢᴍᴇɴᴛ. Tʀᴜᴇ Jᴜᴅɢᴍᴇɴᴛ, ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇs ᴏғ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴs sᴜᴄʜ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ ᴄᴀɴ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴇsᴄᴀᴘᴇ. Aғᴛᴇʀ ᴀʟʟ...I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ʜᴜɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴs.

"I am no demon!" Raiho cried out, still brandishing the blade in every direction. "I am this dimension's savior!"

Ushio briefly marveled at the fact that the general, who had so far generally avoided any emotional displays of too great a magnitude, was finally unraveling merely at a few words from a disembodied voice. But he supposed, upon further reflection, that there really wasn't anything "mere" about _this_ voice. Every syllable _radiated_ with power.

Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴜᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ʟɪᴇs ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪɴɪᴏɴs. Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ sɪɴɢʟᴇ ǫᴜᴀʟᴍ. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ғᴏʀᴄᴇs ғʀᴏᴍ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ sᴜᴄʜ ʟɪᴇs ᴄᴀɴ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʜɪᴅᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ. I ᴀᴍ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇᴍ.

"Stop talking in riddles!" Raiho demanded, spreading out a war-fan in the hand that wasn't holding the sword.

Nᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇs? Vᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇʟʟ. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀʜᴀᴘs ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴘʀᴇғᴇʀ...ᴀ ɢᴀᴍᴇ?

Golden energy suddenly began to radiate around them, its intensity almost blinding…and then there was an icy table standing before General Raiho, three small stones resting atop it. Though otherwise apparently plain, the stones seemed to _burn_ with that same, indescribable power.

Tʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴀʀᴇ sɪᴍᴘʟᴇ, Gᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ. Bᴇғᴏʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ sᴛᴏɴᴇs, ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ sʏᴍʙᴏʟ: ᴀ ᴘʜɪᴀʟ, ᴀɴ ᴀʀʀᴏᴡ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ sᴡᴏʀᴅ. Eᴀᴄʜ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴs ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜᴍ ᴛᴏᴛᴀʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴜɪʟᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴇᴇʟ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀs ᴛʜᴇʏ ʀᴇᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ.

"I feel no guilt…nor do I have reason to!" Raiho continued to protest, slashing his fan across the table as if that might stop the voice. "I did what I had to in order to secure the Ice Boundary's glory! None can deny the righteousness of what I bring!"

Wᴇ sʜᴀʟʟ sᴇᴇ. Aᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀᴄᴋ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏɴᴇs ᴏɴ ᴛᴏᴘ ᴏғ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ. Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʀᴜʟʏ ɢᴜɪʟᴛʟᴇss, ᴛʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛʏ. Sᴜᴄᴄᴇᴇᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ I sʜᴀʟʟ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴏ ʟᴏɴɢᴇʀ.

"If it will silence you, wretched spirit…then I suppose I shall entertain this farce," said the General, grabbing the stones in one hand and slamming them roughly on top of one another. The stack remained stable for about half a second before the top stone slid off, and then the other.

"Infernal things…" he murmured under his breath, stacking them up again; they collapsed the moment he removed his hands. He let out a roar of frustration and repeated the action several more times in rapid succession…each attempt turning out as successful as the last.

Is sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ? Bʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴇᴘᴏʀᴛɪɴɢ, ᴛʜɪs sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ǫᴜɪᴛᴇ ᴇᴀsʏ.

"Shut up!" hissed Raiho as the stones once again struck the table. "Your task is impossible, bodiless spirit! Look at these stones…the surfaces are rough and uneven. No monster _or_ human could win this 'game'!"

Yᴏᴜ ᴀssᴜᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ʙᴇɪɴɢ's sᴛᴏɴᴇs ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴄᴀʟ. Tʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡs ᴛᴏ ᴀ ᴜsᴇʀ's sᴏᴜʟ. A ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ sɪɴ - ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴘᴏᴏʀ ɢɪʀʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴊᴜsᴛ sʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ, ғᴏʀ ᴇxᴀᴍᴘʟᴇ - ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀs ғʟᴀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ sᴍᴏᴏᴛʜ.

"I have had _enough_ of this!" Raiho exclaimed, overturning the table and sending the stones flying into the snowbanks. "Men, grab the otherworlder and move out! We'll finish this somewhere else!"

I ᴡᴀʀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀғᴇɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ.

"Fine, then," Raiho responded derisively. "I forfeit your 'game,' spirit! You may claim whatever worthless victory you'd like!"

Vᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴛʜᴇɴ. Kɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪs ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ, Gᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ Rᴀɪʜᴏ...ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ʜᴇᴀᴅ.

Pᴇɴᴀʟᴛʏ Gᴀᴍᴇ! Cɪʀᴄʟᴇ ᴏғ Tʀᴜᴛʜ!

And with that an enormous golden sphere began to materialize around them, trapping Ushio, Raiho, and the general's minions in a tight enclosure. Several of the spirits attempted to slash or shoot through the bubble surrounding them, but the golden energy incinerated their weapons at a touch. This even seemed to include the icy auras of the mages, as Ushio immediately found himself freed of their paralysis; as there didn't seem to be anywhere to run to, however, his only response to this was to cradle Maihime's body in his arms, keeping her away from the edges of the sphere.

"What in Trishula's name is going on?!" bellowed Raiho as his own war-fans melted in the face of the golden energy. "Explain yourself, spirit!"

But the voice did not speak again. The only response given to the general's questions were the stones he had failed to stack rising from the snow and spinning around the sphere, starting out slow and then gradually accelerating until they were like missiles. In the face of all this – which Ushio gathered was strange activity even by Spirit World standards – many of the monsters were recoiling or huddling together, their faces terrified. Raiho was the only one who stood apart, his own expression displaying only abject disbelief at this turn of events.

Then, without warning, the stones stopped spinning…and the group found themselves in the town square of L'ad, hundreds of spirits surrounding them in every direction.

The stones did not remain arrested for long, however, as with massive bursts of that same golden, ethereal energy they began to expand to a hundred times their original size, coming down into the snowbanks with an impact that shook the ground.

Then, as if they were enormous televisions, shadows of various scenes flashed across their surfaces: Raiho mixing the poison meant for Grunard; Raiho handing to his underling the bow-and-arrow meant for Gantara; Raiho beseeching his samurai to stab Dai-sōjō and Koreishi in the back, and then using it himself to strike Maihime through the heart.

All this played out across the surfaces of each stone, in such a way that everyone in the crowd was able to see Raiho's hand in at least one of the murders that day. Harsh whispering and murmurs sprang through the town square while the bubble surrounding them dissipated and General Raiho stepped out, his hair and clothes utterly disheveled as he gazed at the stones in silent panic.

"You all…my people…my _friends,_" he implored them, his eyes darting from one enraged face to another. "You cannot possibly believe these _lies!_ It's the otherworlder! All of this filth comes from the otherworlder! Quickly, join me, and revenge yourselves for his horrific crimes!"

But these cries fell on deaf ears. It certainly didn't help that he was still holding the bloodstained sword limply in his right hand…a fact he realized a few seconds too late.

"Please! Please, _listen_ to me!" he screamed, holding up his hands in surrender as Duel Spirits began to pile upon him and his men in droves, carrying them off by sheer force of numbers to who-knows-where. Despite everything, Ushio almost extended a hand to Raiho's outstretched one, after seeing the sheer _terror_ in the general's eyes…but in a few more seconds he and his co-conspirators had been dragged out of his range of vision, and the Security Officer let his hand fall.

Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇᴍ, Tᴇᴛsᴜ Usʜɪᴏ. Rᴀɪʜᴏ ʜᴀs ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʜɪs ᴏᴡɴ ғᴀᴛᴇ.

"But is this really justice?" Ushio asked the suddenly returned spirit. "They'll tear him apart after what they've seen."

I ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴡ. Jᴜᴅɢᴍᴇɴᴛ ɪs ᴍʏ ᴅᴏᴍᴀɪɴ...Jᴜsᴛɪᴄᴇ, ᴀɴ ᴇɴᴛɪʀᴇʟʏ ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴀʀᴅ. Bᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛ, ᴡᴇ ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴅᴇᴘᴀʀᴛ. Tɪᴍᴇ ɢʀᴏᴡs sʜᴏʀᴛ.

Another, much smaller golden bubble began to surround them, though the crowd didn't appear to notice; indeed, he had a very strong notion that the only one seeing or hearing any sign of the spirit this time around was himself. "Where are we going?" he questioned the spirit as he, Maihime's corpse, and the small patch of snow she had died upon rose up in the air. "And…who _are_ you, anyway?"

Fᴏʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴏᴜsᴀɴᴅ ʏᴇᴀʀs I ᴡᴀs ɴᴀᴍᴇʟᴇss. Fᴏʀ ɴᴏᴡ, I ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴘʀᴇғᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴠᴇʀᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛᴀᴛᴜs. Sᴜғғɪᴄᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇᴛ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ, Tᴇᴛsᴜ Usʜɪᴏ.

Bᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴍᴀɴʏ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs. Yᴏᴜʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ʀᴇsᴛs sᴀғᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ Tᴇᴍᴘʟᴇ ᴏғ Tʀɪsʜᴜʟᴀ, ʙᴜᴛ I ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ɢᴜᴀʀᴀɴᴛᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴ sᴏ ғᴏʀ ʟᴏɴɢ. Tʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴜʀsᴜᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴍᴀᴋᴇs ᴄᴀᴍᴘ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʟsᴏ.

"I…well…wait, _what?!_" said Ushio, his mouth tripping up over itself as various burning questions jostled for position in his mind. There was so much he didn't understand about what had gone on over the past hour or so – about this mysterious spirit, about Saiga, about that fucking beast of a man who'd kidnapped him, about what was going to happen to Raiho and his men and the people of the Ice Boundary in general…and, about Maihime…

I sᴇɴsᴇ ᴀɴᴅ sʏᴍᴘᴀᴛʜɪᴢᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴜɴᴇᴀsᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀs ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴇʀʟʏ ᴇɴ-ʀᴏᴜᴛᴇ. Aɴᴅ...ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ɢɪᴠɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴇʀ ғᴜɴᴇʀᴀʟ ʀɪᴛᴇs ᴀs ᴡᴇʟʟ.

"A…Alright, then…" Ushio mumbled. "Nameless spirit guy…let's get going, then."

As ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪsʜ, Tᴇᴛsᴜ Usʜɪᴏ.

And with that, the golden orb shot forth through the sky – Ushio, the Dance Princess' bloody remains, and a spirit of unparalleled power all heading straight for the temple where Saiga Madera and the Player Killer of Darkness both lay shivering.

[-]

"So basically, you guys do this kind of stuff _professionally?_" asked Brave Gosforth, breaking off and consuming one of Austin O'Brien's rations when it was offered to him.

"Yup! Well, sort of," Johan Andersen answered with a smile. "Not like we get paid in this line of work or anything. But yeah, we've been doing it for a while."

"And have you been successful?" Dragan Thorwald demanded, leaning forward. "How many of those…Co…Cois…_things_ have you managed to kill?"

"Technically, this would be the first," O'Brien told them calmly. "What Judai used to call _Coisichean Dorchadas_ are extraordinarily rare…only the mightiest and most far-reaching embodiments of chaos can claim such a title. Since Judai – with aid – slew the creature Darkness in 2008, the three of us have been mainly focused upon stamping out more minor entities of negative darkness, before they could rise anywhere near that level. Until, of course, this day."

"You're certain, then?" Harald responded, not touching his own share of the rations at all; since O'Brien would have done the same thing were their roles reversed, he supposed he couldn't fault the Norwegian. "This beast was a…'Coisiche'?"

"Ooh, correct conjugation on the Gaelic! _Major props,_ _Odinson,_" said Jim Cook with a jovial chuckle.

"Not only was it _a_ Coisiche, Mister Ledberg…" O'Brien cut back in, "It is the _first_ Coisiche to arrive on Earth, and also the most powerful. Its legend is actually quite prolific in certain parts of the cosmos, if you know who to ask."

"And we managed to kill it? Fucking _score!_" Brave whooped, punching a fist in the air.

"It certainly looks that way," Johan offered, gesturing up to the enormous dragon still hovering above the group. "My Rainbow Dragon here's a being a positive light, you see…the perfect antidote to creatures of negative darkness like the King of the Underworld. Not that I ever expected to face something _that_ freaky, at least not so out-of-the-blue…but I'm not about to bag on our results."

"This is excellent news," stated Harald, though his tones were tepid at best. "But there are still several questions that puzzle me. First, and perhaps most pressing: who exactly is this 'Judai' character you keep referencing?"

"Seriously?" Jim snorted incredulously. "You call yourselves _big-shot-God-avatar-hero-guys_ and you don't know who Judai is?"

"Judai Yuki, born in 1991 and enrolled into the original Duel Academia in 2005," O'Brien informed them. "He was extremely well-known to his peers during that period and accomplished great things…but I suppose it's not surprising that you wouldn't have come across him much in records. He resided in Osiris Red all three years and racked up no major tournament victories; his best works were of a…less conspicuous nature."

"Plus, he turned out to be the modern avatar of the positive darkness and all. That was pretty damn cool," added Johan, his voice far warmer and fonder than Austin's fact-based, clinical one. "He goes around using true darkness to destroy false light; we use true light to eradicate false darkness. Works out well, don't ya think? Not that Judai-kun has any clue what we're doing, of course…haven't seen him in years…"

The blue-haired duelist appeared to be sinking into the serene smile of reminiscence, a sentiment which Harald did not particularly have the patience for, and as such he said, "Thank you very much for your aid…all of you. But with this mission completed, I thinks it's time the three of us return to the human realm."

"Woah-woah-woah there, _Odinson!_" Jim called after them before Harald could take more than a step away. "We told you guys everything _you_ wanted to know. Now it's time to return the favor."

"Everything that you need to know of us is can be gleaned from the figures above," Harald replied, gesturing at the monumental Polar Gods, still floating opposite the Rainbow Dragon and staring at it with – at best – severe apprehension. "We three are the chosen protectors of this world and all others, and with our work done here, that is a task we must resume on Earth."

"Hey, hey, don't get so defensive!" exclaimed Johan. "You're far from the only 'chosen ones' running around. Anyway, we were just curious how you guys ended up in the Undead Wasteland like this."

"If you really must know…our Gods tracked the emergence of the creature to Japan, back on Earth," Harald told them. "Unfortunately, it obliterated Neo Domino City and several parts of the United States long before we could intercede. But we did manage to intercept it over the Atlantic before it could reach Europe. We used magic to bring the battle here so as to avoid risking civilian casualties."

"So…wait," Jim murmured, suddenly looking alarmed. "You didn't bring it over here from the place it emerged on Earth?"

"Does that make a difference?" Dragan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Are you…are you _kidding_ me?" Jim demanded, leaping to his feet. "This is why you don't leave this stuff to _newbies_…they never do the homework."

"Hey buddy, I know English, and you did _not_ just call us fucking 'newbies'!" shouted Brave, raising a finger and jabbing it against Jim's chest. "You wanna go, cowboy?"

"Enough," Harald intoned harshly, and slowly Brave lowered his hand, though he continued to stare daggers at the one-eyed duelist. "Now, _why_ is this alarming you so much?"

"As you all know, the King is not a native of this dimension," O'Brien explained as he began packing up the remainder of the food. "As such, what we slew here was only an extension of its essence; the portion of the King you managed to force across the interdimensional rift."

"In other words…it's still alive," said Harald, trying his utmost to maintain his even and calm demeanor despite the fact that his innards were screaming in a mixture of frustration and sheer terror. "What exactly did we leave behind, then? Microscopic traces of its slime in the ocean back on Earth…is that what you're talking about? Can it really come back from that little?"

"I'm talking about the Underworld itself," O'Brien answered him, now scouting the horizon with binoculars. "It's not just a place, Mister Ledberg. It's _part_ of the King…its home, and its womb. And it's intrinsic to the planet Earth, alone. From what I've read from the few scholars who have ever dared write on the subject, unless you destroy the Underworld – by killing the King within close proximity to its bridge to Earth, which you claim is in Japan – then the King will just keep on regenerating. We've set it back here perhaps an hour or two at most."

"Then…it's reforming in Neo Domino right now?" Dragan murmured, his eyes widening. "Harald, we have to get back there! Can't you do that fucking rainbow thing in reverse?"

"With your aid…possibly," the leader of Team Ragnarok replied, again pulling out the_ Rainbow Bridge Bifröst_ and placing it upon his Duel Disk. "Clear your minds, and concentrate solely on the core of your inner power. The part of you that belongs to your God…let it speak to the world. To _all_ worlds."

With no gigantic monster breathing down their necks (at least for the moment), this activation of the Rainbow Bridge proved far smoother and simpler than the first, and in a few moments they were staring at the dilapidated ruins of the Satellite, the Dark King's palace – built directly adjacent to the portal to the Underworld – just visible in the distance. "Let's move, team," Harald ordered.

"Hold on," Dragan said, before turning to Austin O'Brien. "Are you three going to join us? We've clearly been an effective alliance so far."

"_Dragan,_" hissed Harald, fixing a death-glare upon his teammate.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid we can't," Johan told them, either not noticing or not caring about Harald's clear disapproval. "Orders from the higher-ups…we can't come back to Earth. Not right now, anyway. But if you see Judai around, tell him we said hey!"

"…And that the town of Voda still wants to bill him for that water tower he wrecked," Jim added with a snicker, before returning to a more serious expression. "Anyway…to you three: _good luck._ You're gonna need it."

He and his friends each offered handshakes to the members of Team Ragnarok (with even Harald accepting them, if somewhat reluctantly) and the Gods inclined their heads once to the Rainbow Dragon, which bent its neck downward to allow the trio to climb up onto its back. Then the Gods glowed a bright, snowy white and returned to their cards, allowing Harald, Dragan, and Brave to step back onto the Earth-plane.

And as the interdimensional rift sealed shut, Johan's group disappearing from sight with one last wave, Brave Gosforth turned to his leader and demanded of him in strained tones:

"Okay, now what?"

[-]

With everything that was going on at the residence of Zora Laruto, the last thing anyone was thinking about was cleaning up the corpse of the Dark Signer which lay headless in the street. Indeed, why the body hadn't decayed into ash and disappeared – as had happened to all the previous Dark Signers upon their second deaths – hadn't crossed any of their minds even once.

…Which was fortunate, because that meant that when small tendrils of violet blood and sinew began to stretch between the two pieces of Carly Nagisa and slowly sealed them back together inch-by-inch, not one living person noticed the sickening scene.

Aslla piscu, for Its part, was furious. The Earthbound God had expected better from Its chosen host, who had fallen embarrassingly to the Signer she was meant to slay…and with an injury this severe to her physical shell, the hummingbird was going to need to maintain full control for a couple Earth days at least to completely heal it. Aslla piscu, all appearances to the contrary, did _not_ particularly enjoy being stuck inside the tiny, frail body of Carly Nagisa for that long.

Using Carly Nagisa's mouth – so unlike a beak, so _worthless_ as a weapon – the hummingbird snarled…yes, It believed "snarled" was the word. Hours upon hours upon excruciating hours, stuck regulating this pathetic piece of equipment. Stuck only a couple degrees away from being a wretched _human!_

It was almost – _almost_ – enough to make the Jibakushin regret taking on a human host in the first place. This was the first time the hummingbird had taken direct control of her faculties (though It supposed Its influence had been a _tad_ more…overt than usual shortly after her initial death) and It really couldn't see how Its fellows could stand it for even an instant.

But then, the hummingbird supposed, It had some rather more pressing issues at the moment than the inadequacies of the body Its avatar's failures had saddled It with. First and foremost, Aslla piscu had never been more vulnerable to outside attack, and at present It was lying across Its enemy's very doorstep. While seizing the element of surprise and slaughtering a few of the Signers – or at least their allies – right now was an alluring notion, the God had to face facts: It was outmatched at present, and needed time to recover.

As such, the moment that the head of Carly Nagisa reattached to "her" body, Aslla piscu used what little of Its power remained to create a small geoglyph beneath Its feet, and a moment later, used it to teleport directly into the throne room of Its avatar's palace.

"Oh, so you've _finally_ returned? How…wonderful," hissed a familiar voice, and the hummingbird turned to stare in contempt at glowing eyes and bulging veins that matched perfectly the ones the Jibakushin was currently "wearing." Jack Atlas he might be in surface appearance, but there was no question in the hummingbird's mind as to who was _really_ commenting upon Its return.

"Any particular reason you've taken over your host, condor?" Aslla piscu demanded in harsh tones. "I at least have the excuse of saving my avatar from a second death."

"Jack Atlas left me with no choice, Aslla piscu," Wiraqocha Rasca answered, Its wings ruffling and Its fists clenched, even as It reclined across the Dark King's throne. "He betrayed the sanctity of Our cause, for the sake of a few pathetic humans. For the sake of the Underworld's glory, I could no longer afford to grant him autonomy."

The hummingbird laughed throatily, and then said, "In other words…you chose badly in your avatar. Twice over."

"Jack Atlas remains the most powerful human to _ever_ walk this wretched Earth!" bellowed the condor. "That is the true tragedy: he walked away from the greatest alliance any entity in Hell, Heaven, _or_ Earth could ever imagine! Why, I still cannot fathom. But with less than forty hours remaining until the end of this world, I don't intend to linger upon the point. This mission _must_ succeed, with or without Jack Atlas."

The hummingbird looked upon Its sole remaining "compatriot" with harsh eyes, Its power burning intensely enough to produce an aura that gouged great holes in a nearby statue. "And throughout this process, did it not ever occur to you what opinions _My_ host might have on the subject?" It asked, clearly incensed.

"For what possible reason would I have ever considered _that?_" returned Wiraqocha Rasca. "I only barely tolerate _Your_ presence, hummingbird…let alone that ridiculous excuse for a Dark Signer You're currently propping up. From what I can sense, You appear to be concentrating nearly the entirety of Your power on simply keeping that wretch from falling apart. The handiwork of _her_ failure, I presume?"

Aslla piscu elected to ignore the question beyond a sharp glare, instead stating, "Nonetheless…she isn't going to be happy about this when I return control to her."

"And I still fail to see how that is in any way _My_ problem," the condor replied glibly. "Although…there's always the possibility of eliminating that as an issue."

"Meaning…?" the hummingbird demanded, the body It was possessing twitching with impatience.

"Meaning You could simply do as I did," Wiraqocha Rasca said with a cruel chuckle. "Admittedly, such weak bodies do take some…getting used to, but I certainly find the effort worth it, if only to no longer suffer their ridiculous prattling in Your head."

"I made a bargain with Carly Nagisa," protested Aslla piscu, Its voice low and dangerous. "I do not intend to renege on it. Oaths may mean nothing to You, condor, but I will _not_ betray My chosen avatar the way You have so brazenly done!"

"Well, either way, it's not like You have much choice in the matter in the short-term," the condor pointed out, lifting Itself off the Dark King's throne and hovering over to meet Its fellow Jibakushin in the eyes. "With a wound like that, You'll need to control Your host directly for at least a few days, as these mortals count time. Perhaps when that period is over with, You will have a different opinion on the matter. But for now…for now, I believe the two of us are 'stuck together' on this plane. We may as well make the most of it."

"I suppose I cannot really argue _that_ point," admitted the hummingbird. "Now was that merely posturing, or do You actually have a stratagem prepared?"

"As a matter of fact…I do," responded Wiraqocha Rasca, turning Its host's head to an antechamber near the thrones. "Bolger, come here!"

"Yes, my Lord," muttered the former CEO, who emerged from the darkness and prostrated himself before the body of the Dark King.

"You may rise, Bolger," the condor ordered, and Samuel Bolger wordlessly complied. The violet-hued Jibakushin then placed a palm over the feather It had lent the D-Wheel designer. "Through this conduit, I speak now to My Reaper, and through him I speak to the remainder of My Children. Can I be heard by you all?"

_My Lord, I have connected you to Clark Smith and Frank Adler._

Wiraqocha Rasca scowled. "And what of the other three?" It demanded.

_I have lost all contact with the Player Killer of Darkness. According to Frank Adler he fled our enemies in terror, and currently hides with a non-Signer hostage in one of the Duel Monsters Spirit Worlds._

_But as for Nicolas Verbrechen and Barbara Vasquez…I can no longer sense their energies at all. I am forced to conclude that they must both now be deceased._

The condor responded to this by vaporizing a nearby wall with a burst of dark energy. Then It pinched Jack Atlas' brow and said in a detached, resigned tone, "Well…I suppose that is what I get for relying on humans. At minimum, they've bought Me some time. Now, the four of you that remain – listen close for the edicts of Your Master."

_My Lord, we serve no other purpose._

"Of course you don't," sneered Wiraqocha Rasca. "First, Adler…I see within your mind that you are closing in on your chosen Signer."

"_That is correct, my Lord," Professor Frank spoke to the empty air as he proceeded through the streets of Satellite. "Purely incidentally, I discovered a peculiar side-effect of these Feathers you so generously bestowed upon us: limited, tactile mind-reading. While the researcher in me is quite eager to…experiment with this wondrous phenomenon, what matters now is this: reading a Signer ally's mind told me _exactly_ where their base of operations is. I'll be at the little bitch's bedside within ten minutes."_

"Excellent news, Adler…but I would like you to fall back for the moment," replied the condor. "If this location is the Signers' stronghold, I would prefer to attack it in en-force. Reaper, rendezvous with Adler's location and reinforce him with as many zombies as possible, then return here for further instructions. Am I understood?"

_Of course, my Lord._

"And you, Adler?" It asked, almost seeming to _dare_ the psychologist to protest. Either because he kept a comparatively cool head or because he was utterly terrified of incurring the condor's wrath, however, Professor Frank did not take the bait.

"_Your will be done, my Lord," he declared, ensconcing himself in a nearby abandoned restaurant to wait for the promised reinforcements._

"As for you, Smith…I presume matters on Zero Reverse II are progressing on schedule," Wiraqocha Rasca continued.

"_Quite so, my Lord. Ahead of schedule, if anything," Clark Smith telepathically messaged back. "In just under forty hours, according to the original timetable, we should be ready to cleanse the Earth as you have commanded. But at this rate, I rather doubt it will even take twenty."_

"Again, your Master is pleased with this news," the condor told his glasses-wearing subordinate. "Work as quickly as you can without sacrificing the efficacy of the project. And if you have any further updates of consequence, forward them along via My Reaper."

"_Absolutely, My Lord!" the former CEO exclaimed obsequiously. "I shall not fail you!"_

"For your sake, Smith…I hope that winds up proving true," said Wiraqocha Rasca, cutting off Its connection to Its three distant Children and returning Its attentions to Samuel Bolger. "As for you, Bolger…I do believe you've managed to capture _your_ chosen Signer?"

"I…I have indeed, my Lord…" he whispered, his head bowed low.

"Then bring Crow Hogan outside of My palace and kill him for me," the condor commanded.

Bolger's eyes widened for a split-second. "W…With a duel, my Lord?" he mumbled, his voice quaking slightly.

"If you insist, I suppose," responded Wiraqocha Rasca, waving Jack Atlas' hand in a casual manner It'd observed to signify lack of interest. "But be quick about it if you do. I do _not_ want any Signers left alive when We are ready to commence humanity's end. So _go!_"

"I…I live to serve your edicts, my Lord," Bolger proclaimed with another low bow, before scurrying off to the dungeons to heed his instructions.

"…Not an _entirely_ incompetent demonstration of leadership," said Aslla piscu once their final servant had left the room. "But assuming the 'base' that Frank character described is the one where My host battled the Signer Aki Izayoi, I can guarantee that not _all_ of the remaining Signers are present there. Yusei Fudo, at least, is missing."

"Yusei Fudo will come to Me," the condor informed Its counterpart, grinning wide. "The Signer leader is powerful, but he is also utterly naïve. He still believes that the human Jack Atlas can be retrieved, and soon enough he will challenge Me for the sake of that idiotic fantasy."

"And if he doesn't?" demanded the hummingbird with a frown. "What if you're wrong, and Yusei Fudo goes after Our Momentum reactor instead of Our fortress? I doubt Smith is capable of fending them off himself."

"The Signers have no idea what We are planning with that reactor. How could they?" Wiraqocha Rasca pointed out. "But…perhaps You have some semblance of a point. We _must_ be sure."

And with that, the condor relaxed Its wings across Its shoulders and began striding out of the chamber, Aslla piscu following a moment later with an irritated look upon Its vein-covered countenance. "Where do You think You're heading off to?" It questioned of Its fellow Jibakushin.

"A short while ago, My host utilized My power to speak unto all the mortals who still pollute this city," explained Wiraqocha Rasca as It continued to climb stairs up toward the rooftop. "I think that the time has come for Me to do the same. I will announce to Yusei Fudo and his allies that I have captured Crow Hogan, and that the Signer whelp's life will be forfeit if I am not met in battle. I doubt he'll be able to ignore Me then."

"Except that you already _ordered_ that Signer's death, condor," the hummingbird replied with a glare.

"I see no reason to inform Yusei Fudo of that _particular_ detail in advance," said Wiraqocha Rasca, and in-spite-of-Itself Aslla piscu couldn't help but share in Its counterpart's chuckle.

In a few more moments the pair had reached the roof of their citadel, but as the condor began to gather the necessary energies to broadcast Its image to what little remained of the Satellite and Neo Domino City, It was interrupted by a hand on Its avatar's shoulder.

"One other thing then, condor," murmured the hummingbird, Its host's eyes narrowed sternly. "When Jack Atlas last performed this technique, he quite intentionally left My host out of the image. It seems he wished to protect her, to make her a less obvious target for enemies…presumably, out of that ridiculous emotion called 'love' which he feels in such nauseating quantities."

"Which they _both_ feel," Wiraqocha Rasca corrected him. "Your host is hardly blameless in that ridiculous mess."

"It is a matter I have…long tried to correct," Aslla piscu admitted, clenching the Dark Queen's fists in anger from having been reminded of Its one great failure in transforming an unassuming, worthless little human into the mightiest warrior on Earth. "But nonetheless…I will _not_ be kept out this time. We broadcast our images together."

"Well, I can't really see any constructive use in arguing about this further," the condor responded with a roll of Its host's eyes. "If you really _must,_ come up next to Me. My geoglyph will reach peak efficiency in about ten mortal seconds."

The hummingbird did so, slipping in under the shadow cast by one of Its counterpart's extended wings, and waited patiently…until the intricate pattern of purplish fire surrounding them burst upward in intensity, and an image of both the Earthbound Gods in immortal shells cut straight into the heavens above.

"All humans who persist in defiling these lands, here now Our voices," spoke the mouth of the Dark King, his eyes shimmering with the eldritch power of a God. "And for the first and last time…gaze upon the faces of your true Masters."

[-]

Many saw the broadcast, which seemed to cover the entirety of the darkened sky.

Yusei Fudo gasped in astonished horror as he looked upon the face of his oldest friend, even further twisted and inhuman than it had been but a few hours prior. Aki Izayoi took one look at the figure next to him in the image, and buried her tear-soaked face back into Yusei's shoulder just as quickly…

Martha Okasama matched her foster son's expression precisely, and she nearly collapsed at the undeniable proof that whatever Jack had been fighting when he had refused to kill her…had _won_…

Sherry Leblanc and Kenji Mizoguchi barely afforded the image more than a passing glance, though they remained listening; they were far more concerned, at present, with getting to the Signers' hideout before Frank Adler, and Mizoguchi drove as fast as the beat-up jeep would allow to do so. In the back seats, Mikage Sagiri comforted Tetsuzo Kuzuyama and the children, who were all shivering in fright…while struggling her damndest not to show that she was on the verge of fainting herself at the sight of Jack Atlas, so _changed_…

Ruka ignored her brother's protests that she should rest and joined him, Doctor Schmitt, and several of the others as they looked upon the image through Zora Laruto's window, while Martha's orphans looked after Zora herself, collapsed and breathing heavily upon her bed…

Team Kizuna gave as much attention to the sky as they could spare while attempting to wipe out the last few hordes of zombies in the area with Solid Vision holograms, as the undead had apparently seen the deaths of their leaders as a signal to converge in even greater numbers upon _Always_…

Team Ragnarok stared upon the image shrewdly from a Satellite back-alley, though Harald Ledberg was only half-paying attention, the rest of his mind concentrating on coming up with a plan of action to end the Signer/Dark Signer threat once and for all…

Clark Smith smiled in satisfaction at the sight of his Dark King, framed directly above the numerous wraiths working themselves into dust to accomplish the end of humanity as soon as possible. Many kilometers away, exactly the same expression could be seen across the face of Professor Frank Adler, his arms crossed and his eyes glinting eagerly in anticipation of the army he would soon wield…

Samuel Bolger did not see the broadcast directly, though as he made his way to the cell where he'd left Crow Hogan he could hear every word coming from above, and it only quickened his pace – if only so that he wouldn't have to stop and think about what he was about to do…

Meanwhile, in Lakewood, California six former Duel Academia students and an immortal, semi-demonic Duel Spirit all gathered around a "copy" of the broadcast, which Judai Yuki had managed to generate after sensing an excruciatingly painful disturbance in the network of darkness that blanketed the planet…

And finally, from a vantage point only he himself could perceive, a single man in white gazed upon the image of his two greatest pawns in this era and chuckled lightly, before pulling out a white transceiver marked with the symbol of an inverted star – one which he seemed to generate from nothing – and placing a call.

"José, Placido, Luciano…yes, it's me," he said into the speaker. "Convene the upper echelons at once. We have much to discuss."

And with that, he hung up…and out of boredom if nothing else, he stretched his senses to a plane deep beneath their own, where the second part of his grand design was quite evidently forming right on schedule.

In only a few hours, the final Dark Signer would rise up unto the Earth, and wreak his petty vengeance upon the two whose images now painted the heavens.

And the entirety of existence would come one step closer to final, blessed oblivion.

[-]

A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! :D

…Okay, there are no excuses. It took me nearly a year to get this behemoth of a chapter out to whatever remains of my readership. An entire freaking _year._ I apologize personally to each and every one of my readers for that delay, though I will offer my explanation(s) as to why it's taken so long.

As readers of Chapter 15's Author's Note may recall, last year I was accepted into my college's exclusive Washington Program, and so I spent the entirety of my spring semester interning on Capitol Hill for 45 hours a week unpaid – plus classes at night, papers, exams, an independent research project, etc. As you might imagine, this left very little time open in my schedule for fic-writing.

The internship, with Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono's House office, was an incredible experience and a huge boon for my career. It also allowed me to pivot directly into working on Mazie's Senate campaign when I returned to Hawaii for the summer. While I had intended to make up for my lost writing time from the spring during that period, the campaign turned out to be even _more_ time-intensive. I ended up working full-time as an unpaid research assistant, 7 days a week with copious overtime.

As such, while I did get _some_ writing done on my very, very occasional days off, I didn't really have the chance for serious writing until I returned to college a month ago…and thankfully I now have over 40,000 words to show for it – the longest chapter of the fic so far. I hope the sheer breadth of content here makes up for my extended hiatus somewhat.

On that note, during the intervening months I did in fact construct a way to stay in better contact with my fans between chapters: a number of accounts on the website Formspring. The main "Masterdramon" account is about the closest I'll ever get to a blog/Tumblr, and I'm open to any and all questions through it, whether they be personal, about the fic, about my thoughts on other media/works, etc. The account can be found here (delete the spaces):

www . formspring . me / Masterdramon

In addition, I've also set up a number of in-character accounts – 23 so far, ranging from the Signers to Judai to the man in white himself. Feel free to ask them whatever comes to mind, whether it be analytic, silly, dirty, what-have-you. If there's a character who doesn't yet have an account whom you would like to question, please feel free to request them through the main Masterdramon account. The post shows the current list:

www . formspring . me / Masterdramon / q / 382027833662271020

Now, as I'm trying to use this chapter and these accounts to bring "My Dark King" back in a **big** way, I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind those readers who have stuck by me all this time about the various other extra materials that are ongoing and connected to the MDK-Verse:

- First, the TV Tropes page for this fic seriously needs more love. I'd really like to see it become a more dynamic part of the reading/writing experience, so that my ass remains firmly and continuously kicked and no absence of this length ever occurs again. For those who are unaware, the page (originally constructed by the awesomesauce reader/reviewer Viewtiful Jeff) can be found here:

tvtropes pmwiki / pmwiki . php / Fanfic / MyDarkKing

- Second, if you're not reading the side-story "I Am Become Death," featuring chronicles of the lives of each of the original seven Dark Signers, I _highly_ suggest you start doing so. Three parts of the mini-series (Rudger, Demak, and Misty) are up so far, and I'll be beginning work on Kiryu's part tomorrow.

These stories, like my previous one-shots "The Devil and the Star," "Second Sun," and "Heroes of Justice," are all in-continuity with the MDK-Verse and flesh out some very important details about the world I'm writing in…particularly with regard to the enigmatic man in white. All of the above stories can be found either through my profile on this site or through the TV Tropes page linked above.

- Lastly, reader/reviewer Endless Strategy Games has gone through a ton of trouble to put together a story map outlining all the various threads of this fic up through Chapter 15, which I will be happy to share with anyone who requests it through PM. While the map is huge, and I mean _huge_ (which is why it'd be impractical to host it rather than send it by request), it should prove a great refresher for anyone coming back to the series now who wants a good visual representation of how this tangled web I dare to call a plot fits together. Major props to ESG for all your hard work in constructing it…and you can expect your reward one-shot sometime early next year.

Now, with all that out of the way…it's been a while, but I still think my wonderful reviewers from the last chapter deserve kudos up the wazzoo. In the nearly 12 months that it's been sitting there, Chapter 15 has earned a grand total of 16 reviews! Holy _shit!_ :D

Accordingly, my utmost gratitude goes out to Turbo K1000, LadyRosalie29, Endless Strategy Games (you rock, man!), NoviceNovelist, Sara Crewe (love ya, babe!), The Agent of Mystery, Koros45, WhiteAsukalover, DragonXDoom, Jaded Seraph, mangaluva, Autumncomet, Zaconator and Zackis, Guest, Sweetheart34 (technically reviewed on Chapter 2, but I'm counting it anyway!), and Hotaru for all your wonderful praise and constructive suggestions.

Now, to answer a few points/questions a little more in-depth…

**Endless Strategy Games:** Jim went to the Momentum facility because he was distracted by the obvious activity there, resulting from, well, a shit-ton of zombies and unusual lights/sounds emanating from it. It wasn't too far off-course, so he figured it couldn't hurt to catch a quick look.

As for why he arrived second, Jack/Carly were able to take a decently direct route for the most part, as they were flying; Jin had no choice but to use roads that he is _very_ unfamiliar with, not to mention dodging patrols of the undead. I'll admit that him arriving when he does stinks of plot convenience, but I think the timing remains at least decently logical.

Daitokuji-sensei's soul finally managed to pass on once Pharaoh died peacefully, several years following the end of GX.

And lastly, with regards to Team Kizuna's generator being outdoors: it's a rather large generator, and infeasible to keep inside because it needs to vent. Make no mistake, doing that much damage to the generator required a _lot_ of work on the zombies' parts – Team Unicorn simply never expected to have to defend _Always_ from _hundreds_ of simultaneous threats. If, say, Nicolas and Barbara had come there alone, I doubt they would've been able to take it down, supernatural powers or not.

**NoviceNovelist:** The Egyptian God Cards are lost forever, destroyed when the temple collapsed at the end of DM (their spirits do remain on a high layer of the Duel Monsters Spirit World, though). Yugi is still alive in this setting, but on his own. As revealing exactly _where_ he is right now would constitute massive spoilers, however, I shall refrain from saying more.

And Atem? Well…I think the cat may or may not be out of the bag on that one… ;)

Now Seto Kaiba on the other hand, I confirm is definitely dead; he and Mokuba were killed in early 2011 by the man in white himself, so that Yliaster could take over KaibaCorp and their burgeoning Momentum technology without running afoul of the company bylaws that require a living Kaiba heir. The story put out by the Yliaster plants on the Board of Directors was a private plane crash.

This is not to say, however, that the Kaibas do not have _some_ sort of further role to play in the MDK-Verse. But again, out of the interest of avoiding spoilers, that's all I'll say.

And as for Johan…well, I think that one was answered pretty starkly in this chapter, LOL. You did indeed totally call Rainbow Dragon as an embodiment of True Light.

**Sara Crewe:** I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HUGS AND KISSES FOR ALL OF INFINITY! :D

**Jaded Seraph:** Nicolas isn't an OC, actually; he appears in canon as the head of Team Catastrophe during the WRGP. Admittedly, I made up his backstory, much of his personality, and even his last name…but I don't have _any_ wholly original characters in _any_ of my stories, and Nicolas is no exception. Nonetheless, I'm happy that you're enjoying him…or, _did_ enjoy him, I should say. Ah, alas poor Gratuitous German guy…

I _have_ been trying to work on my occasional lapses into Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, particularly with this chapter, but it's a constant struggle with my own typical diction, LOL. I hope that my attempts at improvement are coming across to my readership here-and-there.

And lastly, with regard to the Spirit Worlds…I tend to see the MDK-Verse as somewhere in-between the DM and the GX interpretations, personally. For example, the Greek/Norse/Egyptian/etc. Gods all existed at some point in this world's history and interacted with human cultures, but all of them were in fact obscenely powerful Duel Spirits that crossed over to the First Dimension.

And in fact, I actually decided to codify all Thirteen Dimensions for the purposes of this piece, which I've shared with various individuals over PM and will offer now for the entire audience:

1. The First  
2. Gear Planet  
3. Legendary Ocean  
4. Mist Valley  
5. Dragon Ravine  
6. Undead Wasteland  
7. Ancient Forest  
8. Ice Boundary  
9. Volcanic Zone  
10. Realm of Light  
11. Dark World  
12. Neo Space  
13. Different Dimension

Generally, the closer a dimension is to "The First" (the dimension from which life first sprang, which includes Earth), the closer its native inhabitants resemble our own. The farther out you go (the dimensions being arranged as concentric rings, at least in my head), the more freakish and alien the residents become. If you have any question as to where a particular type of spirit might reside in this superstructure, feel free to PM me.

The as-of-yet unnamed sequel to MDK will take place, in the majority at least, across all Thirteen Dimensions, so we'll be seeing quite a bit more of them at that point (and even then, as of this chapter, Team Ragnarok just existed the Sixth Dimension and Ushio is still in the Eighth). As for "categorizing," I have indeed put a lot of thought into where particular types of monsters would go in this general superstructure; for example, the Realm of Light consists of seven "tiers" of the Heavens, upon which angels and fairies of varying levels of power reside. So far, these at least include the World of Justice (home of the Lightlords/Lightsworn), the Sanctuary in the Sky, Mount Olympus, and Asgard.

**mangaluva:** Mad props for running through 250,000 words so quickly, LOL. I always enjoy reading the initial reactions of new readers to the fic as a whole, and your numerous detailed reviews have been no exception.

I find your observations about Ushio and Player Killer to be especially apt. The differing life paths that the two went down as a result of Atem's "judgment" are the central reason why I both introduced the Player Killer of Darkness into this story and then set him up against Ushio, and they'll be explored much more fully as the Ice Boundary storyline progresses.

As with Yugi, no comment whatsoever on Bakura or Malik. ;)

**Autumncomet:** If the beginning parts of this chapter didn't make it clear enough, Aki and Carly were fighting a good-ol'-fashioned battle of fisticuffs, severely augmented by psychic powers and dark magic respectively. But there were no cards involved, if that's what you meant.

As for the romance thing, you can expect some "measure" of resolution on a number of romantic relationships besides just the main Jack/Carly pairing. Without confirming _how_ much or to what degree these factor in, all have been or will be dealt with across this fic:

Jack/Carly  
Yusei/Aki  
Yusei/Sherry  
Yusei/Aki/Sherry  
Ushio/Mikage  
Andore/Jean  
Leo/Breo  
Kazama/Stephanie  
Nicolas/Barbara

Judai/Yubel

Jun/Asuka  
Raiho/Maihime  
Divine/Aki

Of course, keep in mind that my definition of "resolution" may differ from yours. It doesn't mean I ship all of these or that they'll 100% happen in a two-sided, happily-ever-after sort of way…but they _will_ factor into the plot.

[-]

The die have been cast, and the final moves have been set. As the heroes who constitute mankind's final hope begin to converge for the first and last time into one, evil beyond even that which ruined their world seeks to rise and wrest control. The age of the Dark King and Dark Queen is no more, replaced instead by the reigns of genuine Dark Gods…but even they may not be able to remain on top for long. Now, Earth's endgame truly begins.

So keep on reading and reviewing, and stay tuned for Chapter 17: _Rematch._

– Masterdramon


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